Johnson takes pole at Dover
Jimmie Johnson beat AJ Allmendinger to pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase race at Dover
The reigning champion, who had a troubled start to the championship play-off last week at Loudon, bounced back to win his second pole of the season, making the most of his late qualifying draw.
The Hendrick Motorsports driver was the 34th car in the order and after working hard on his qualifying set-up during the morning practice, he was able to just edge Richard Petty's Allmendinger, who had set the previous benchmark.
A year ago Johnson went on to dominate at the track known as the 'Monster Mile' after starting from pole, a feat he hopes to be able to accomplish for the second season in a row to give a much needed boost to his points tally.
"There are still nine races left and no time to panic," Johnson said. "We don't need to change what we're doing, we know we're a great race team and we've just got to go race for this thing. [In] this year's Chase every guy in is ready to race and we know that we are and now is time to get to work."
Allmendinger will share the front row of the grid with Johnson, while Mark Martin and Martin Truex Jr will line up behind them, ahead of Chase leader Denny Hamlin, the only other title contender among the top five in the order.
Juan Pablo Montoya was sixth, stretching his unmatched sequence of top 10 starts to 10 events, while Greg Biffle and Kurt Busch also claimed top 10 starting spots for Sunday's race.
Following a day of controversy surrounding the penalties imposed on Clint Bowyer, the Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets struggled in qualifying, all finishing the session 25th or worse, with Kevin Harvick all the way down in 34th as the worst of the Chase contenders.
Casey Mears was the best of the non-guaranteed drivers in 27th, driving the #13 Germain Racing Toyota, while Jeff Green, Josh Wise and Ted Musgrave failed to make the field.
Pos Driver Car Speed Time Gap 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 155.736 23.116s 2. AJ Allmendinger Ford 155.642 23.130s + 0.014s 3. Mark Martin Chevrolet 155.561 23.142s + 0.026s 4. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 155.353 23.173s + 0.057s 5. Denny Hamlin Toyota 155.320 23.178s + 0.062s 6. Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 155.052 23.218s + 0.102s 7. Greg Biffle Ford 155.032 23.221s + 0.105s 8. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 155.032 23.221s + 0.105s 9. Kurt Busch Dodge 154.825 23.252s + 0.136s 10. Paul Menard Ford 154.766 23.261s + 0.145s 11. Carl Edwards Ford 154.699 23.271s + 0.155s 12. Reed Sorenson Toyota 154.619 23.283s + 0.167s 13. Kyle Busch Toyota 154.619 23.283s + 0.167s 14. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 154.593 23.287s + 0.171s 15. Matt Kenseth Ford 154.533 23.296s + 0.180s 16. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 154.520 23.298s + 0.182s 17. Kasey Kahne Ford 154.414 23.314s + 0.198s 18. David Reutimann Toyota 154.367 23.321s + 0.205s 19. Regan Smith Chevrolet 154.348 23.324s + 0.208s 20. Joey Logano Toyota 154.228 23.342s + 0.226s 21. Scott Speed Toyota 154.123 23.358s + 0.242s 22. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 154.083 23.364s + 0.248s 23. Elliott Sadler Ford 154.037 23.371s + 0.255s 24. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 154.017 23.374s + 0.258s 25. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 153.997 23.377s + 0.261s 26. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 153.741 23.416s + 0.300s 27. Casey Mears Toyota 153.721 23.419s + 0.303s 28. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 153.682 23.425s + 0.309s 29. Joe Nemechek Toyota 153.662 23.428s + 0.312s 30. David Ragan Ford 153.656 23.429s + 0.313s 31. Travis Kvapil Ford 153.322 23.480s + 0.364s 32. Brad Keselowski Dodge 153.302 23.483s + 0.367s 33. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 153.211 23.497s + 0.381s 34. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 153.048 23.522s + 0.406s 35. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 152.990 23.531s + 0.415s 36. David Gilliland Ford 152.957 23.536s + 0.420s 37. JJ Yeley Dodge 152.944 23.538s + 0.422s 38. Dave Blaney Chevrolet 152.562 23.597s + 0.481s 39. Mike Bliss Toyota 152.433 23.617s + 0.501s 40. Landon Cassill Chevrolet 152.355 23.629s + 0.513s 41. Michael McDowell Dodge 151.796 23.716s + 0.600s 42. Jeff Green Ford 151.675 23.735s + 0.619s 43. Josh Wise Toyota 150.546 23.913s + 0.797s 44. Kevin Conway Toyota 150.301 23.952s + 0.836s 45. Tony Raines Ford 149.701 24.048s + 0.932s 46. Ted Musgrave Toyota 149.483 24.083s + 0.967s
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