Texas NASCAR: Tony Stewart surges to pole position
Tony Stewart surged to pole for the Texas NASCAR Sprint Cup race with a run late in qualifying
The three-time series champion reached 195.454mph (27.628s) around the 1.5-mile quad-oval in the dying moments of the session and demoted Brad Keselowski to second place in doing so.
Kevin Harvick was unable to make it an all Stewart-Haas front row, but he did set the fastest ever qualifying lap at the venue when he achieved 198.282mph (27.234s) in the first round of the session.
An in-form Greg Biffle claimed fourth, ahead of his Roush Fenway team-mate Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin, while 2011 Daytona 500 victor Trevor Bayne lines up seventh.
Joey Logano maintained his record of particpating in every final round of qualifying this season and starts 10th, while Martinsville winner Kurt Busch claimed 11th, although he will start from the rear of the field after using his back-up car following a Friday practice crash.
Jimmie Johnson failed to advance to the 12-car shootout for pole for the first time this year and the reigning champion could do no better than 16th, his worst Texas start since 17th in 2010.
Elsewhere, Dave Blaney qualified well by grabbing 35th and makes his first Sprint Cup race start of the season in the Humphry Ford.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 27.628s 2. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 27.636s +0.008s 3. Kevin Harvick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 27.648s +0.020s 4. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 27.735s +0.107s 5. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 27.744s +0.116s 6. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.746s +0.118s 7. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 27.763s +0.135s 8. Ryan Newman Childress Chevrolet 27.815s +0.187s 9. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 27.826s +0.198s 10. Joey Logano Penske Ford 27.872s +0.244s 11. Kurt Busch Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 27.961s +0.333s 12. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 28.113s +0.485s 13. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet Q2 14. Kyle Larson Ganassi Chevrolet Q2 15. Jamie McMurray Ganassi Chevrolet Q2 16. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet Q2 17. Aric Almirola Petty Ford Q2 18. Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row Ford Q2 19. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet Q2 20. Casey Mears Germain Chevrolet Q2 21. Austin Dillon Childress Chevrolet Q2 22. Justin Allgaier HScott Chevrolet Q2 23. Brian Vickers Waltrip Toyota Q2 24. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet Q2 25. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota Q1 26. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota Q1 27. Michael Annett Baldwin Chevrolet Q1 28. Michael McDowell Leavine Ford Q1 29. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota Q1 30. Alex Bowman BK Toyota Q1 31. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford Q1 32. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet Q1 33. AJ Allmendinger JTG Daugherty Chevrolet Q1 34. David Reutimann MDS Ford Q1 35. Dave Blaney Humphrey Ford Q1 36. Parker Kligerman Swan Toyota Q1 37. Travis Kvapil Go FAS Ford Q1 38. Reed Sorenson Baldwin Chevrolet Q1 39. David Gilliland Front Row Ford Q1 40. Landon Cassill Hillman Chevrolet Q1 41. Josh Wise Parsons Chevrolet Q1 42. Cole Whitt Swan Toyota Q1 43. David Ragan Front Row Ford Q1 Did not qualify: David Stremme Circle Sport Chevrolet Ryan Truex BK Toyota Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota JJ Yeley Cohen Chevrolet
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