Johnson crashes, loses Kansas pole

Johnson hit the wall between turns three and four, causing damage to the No. 48 machine that he had driven to pole position in Friday's qualifying session. Before crashing, he had also set the fastest time in the final practice on his first lap of the session.

"I just lost it getting into Turn 3," said Johnson. "The car was kind of loose. I thought it was coming to me and so I started opening up my entry into the corners and it just got out from underneath me getting into Turn 3... We definitely didn't need that."

"The car we've got [now] is the car we won California with. I'll have to start in the back but this track is wide and good. And we can race anywhere. I really don't have any big concerns besides getting run over [from] behind us."

The reigning Nextel Cup champion was able to complete some laps with his back-up machine during the second half of the final practice session, as his team quickly decided to switch to it having evaluated the damage on his primary car.

Matt Kenseth will inherit pole position for Sunday's race, meaning he will be on pole for both NASCAR events at Kansas as he was fastest in qualifying for the Busch Series race.