Kansas NASCAR: Kevin Harvick on pole again for Stewart-Haas
Kevin Harvick claimed his eighth pole of the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season - and second at Kansas - in qualifying for race one of the Chase's 'Contender' round
Harvick took his Stewart-Haas Chevrolet around the 1.5 mile Kansas Speedway in 27.325 seconds at an average speed of 197.621mph to secure the top spot, beating Brian Vickers and Aric Almirola.
"In the end, it's obviously just about having fast cars," said Harvick. "With a little bit of good luck we know that we can beat anybody on any given weekend, and that's a good feeling to have as a driver."
Vickers, who finished up just under 0.2s short, was almost as pleased with his spot on the outside of the front row.
"That was an awesome car," he said. "The car is definitely on the edge at those speeds, and it was a lot of fun."
Harvick aside, the big story of the day was the spin in the opening qualifying phase that consigned Jimmie Johnson to the rear of the field.
Johnson had struggled for speed on his first run and went out again in search of an improvement, but lost the rear and looped back down to the bottom of the track, flat-spotting his tyres along the way. He will start from row 16.
Fellow Chase contenders Matt Kenseth and Denny Hamlin were also bumped early, but the majority of those who remained managed to earn a spot somewhere in the top 10.
Brad Keselowski, who qualified sixth, said that the weekend could be critical to his hopes of a second Cup title.
"We certainly improved a lot since practice, but we've got to keep working at it," he said.
"This is probably our weakest track of the Chase, so if we can have a good result here then we should be in good shape."
Pos | Driver | Team | Car | Time | Gap |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Kevin Harvick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 27.325s | - |
2 | Brian Vickers | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 27.508s | 0.183s |
3 | Aric Almirola | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 27.530s | 0.205s |
4 | Joey Logano | Team Penske | Ford | 27.544s | 0.219s |
5 | Jeff Gordon | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.544s | 0.219s |
6 | Brad Keselowski | Team Penske | Ford | 27.548s | 0.223s |
7 | Kyle Busch | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 27.555s | 0.230s |
8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.593s | 0.268s |
9 | Tony Stewart | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 27.619s | 0.294s |
10 | Kasey Kahne | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.641s | 0.316s |
11 | Greg Biffle | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 27.696s | 0.371s |
12 | Carl Edwards | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 27.732s | 0.407s |
13 | Paul Menard | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 27.654s | - |
14 | Jamie McMurray | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 27.669s | - |
15 | Martin Truex Jr. | Furniture Row Racing | Chevrolet | 27.681s | - |
16 | Austin Dillon | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 27.684s | - |
17 | Ryan Newman | Richard Childress Racing | Chevrolet | 27.690s | - |
18 | Kyle Larson | Chip Ganassi Racing | Chevrolet | 27.704s | - |
19 | Clint Bowyer | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 27.711s | - |
20 | A.J. Allmendinger | JTG Daugherty Racing | Chevrolet | 27.716s | - |
21 | Justin Allgaier | HScott Motorsports | Chevrolet | 27.738s | - |
22 | Marcos Ambrose | Richard Petty Motorsports | Ford | 27.748s | - |
23 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Roush Fenway Racing | Ford | 27.798s | - |
24 | Kurt Busch | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 27.832s | - |
25 | Denny Hamlin | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 27.873s | - |
26 | Casey Mears | Germain Racing | Chevrolet | 27.885s | - |
27 | Matt Kenseth | Joe Gibbs Racing | Toyota | 27.891s | - |
28 | Michael McDowell | Leavine Family Racing | Ford | 28.026s | - |
29 | Danica Patrick | Stewart-Haas Racing | Chevrolet | 28.111s | - |
30 | Reed Sorenson | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 28.126s | - |
31 | David Gilliland | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 28.243s | - |
32 | Jimmie Johnson | Hendrick Motorsports | Chevrolet | 28.254s | - |
33 | Alex Bowman | BK Racing | Toyota | 28.274s | - |
34 | Josh Wise | Phil Parsons Racing | Chevrolet | 28.296s | - |
35 | Landon Cassill | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 28.302s | - |
36 | Michael Annett | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 28.313s | - |
37 | David Ragan | Front Row Motorsports | Ford | 28.325s | - |
38 | J.J. Yeley | BK Racing | Toyota | 28.436s | - |
39 | Cole Whitt | Swan Racing | Toyota | 28.584s | - |
40 | Timmy Hill | Circle Sport | Chevrolet | 28.640s | - |
41 | Mike Bliss | Tommy Baldwin Racing | Chevrolet | 28.660s | - |
42 | Joey Gase | Go FAS Racing | Ford | 28.913s | - |
43 | Mike Wallace | Michael Waltrip Racing | Toyota | 29.499s | - |
Qualifying format: Round 1 sets 25-43, round 2 13-24 and round 3 1-12
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