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Biffle ends pole drought at Michigan

Greg Biffle claimed his first pole position in more than three years as Roush Fenway Racing dominated qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Michigan

Biffle had been third fastest earlier in practice but was able to pick up nearly half a second on his qualifying lap to beat the previous benchmark set by Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin. Stewart Haas' Ryan Newman and Biffle's Roush team-mate Matt Kenseth had been faster in practice but could not beat the pole-winner after running last in the qualifying order, ending up third and second respectively.

Biffle's pole lap speed of 190.345 mph (37.830 seconds) stands as a new record for the current specification of Cup car at the track, which first ran at the two-mile oval in 2008.

"I don't think that could have gone any better, I tell you what," said Biffle. "This team has needed it. We have great cars and I can't say enough for [crew chief] Matt Puccia and this #16 team. They work really hard and I am proud of them.

"All of a sudden Matt is becoming a hell of a qualifier. He makes fun of himself when he gets up there and says that the throttle sticks. What a great job for the whole Ford camp... I can't wait for Sunday."

Carl Edwards was the lowest Roush Fenway qualifier, ending up only 22nd following struggles in practice, while the other three Ford Fusions fielded by the team were up in top seven spots.

Two-time Michigan winner Denny Hamlin was fourth, meaning he beat his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mates in his first qualifying session running Toyota Racing Development engines, having feared reliability issues would put him out of Chase contention only four weeks before the play-off field is set. In the sister Gibbs cars, Kyle Busch was 17th fastest, while Joey Logano - who had a spin in practice - was 23rd running the Joe Gibbs Racing engines the team has used all year long.

Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin rounded out the top five ahead of Penske's local hero Brad Keselowski, Roush's David Ragan and Dale Earnhardt Jr, who held provisional pole at the track where he last claimed victory 115 races ago. His team-mate Jeff Gordon and Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray completed the top 10.

Wood Brothers Racing's Trevor Bayne was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 20th, while Johnny Sauter (subbing for Robby Gordon, who is at the Nationwide Series event in Montreal), Erik Darnell and TJ Bell failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            37.826s
 2.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            37.853s  + 0.027s
 3.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet       37.980s  + 0.154s
 4.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 38.036s  + 0.210s
 5.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet           38.057s  + 0.231s
 6.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 38.094s  + 0.268s
 7.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford            38.149s  + 0.323s
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           38.162s  + 0.336s
 9.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           38.176s  + 0.350s
10.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  38.204s  + 0.378s
11.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          38.221s  + 0.395s
12.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota               38.226s  + 0.400s
13.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                 38.251s  + 0.425s
14.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota              38.275s  + 0.449s
15.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               38.280s  + 0.454s
16.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   38.286s  + 0.460s
17.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 38.297s  + 0.471s
18.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet       38.298s  + 0.472s
19.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           38.344s  + 0.518s
20.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford           38.347s  + 0.521s
21.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota               38.357s  + 0.531s
22.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            38.364s  + 0.538s
23.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                 38.369s  + 0.543s
24.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          38.414s  + 0.588s
25.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  38.504s  + 0.678s
26.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota              38.519s  + 0.693s
27.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford               38.534s  + 0.708s
28.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         38.564s  + 0.738s
29.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                   38.583s  + 0.757s
30.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      38.639s  + 0.813s
31.  JJ Yeley            Front Row Ford               38.650s  + 0.824s
32.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          38.661s  + 0.835s
33.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet            38.788s  + 0.962s
34.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            38.814s  + 0.988s
35.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet          38.834s  + 1.008s
36.  David Stremme       Inception Chevrolet          38.851s  + 1.025s
37.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 38.864s  + 1.038s
38.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                38.889s  + 1.063s
39.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               38.933s  + 1.107s
40.  Todd Bodine         HP Toyota                    38.953s  + 1.127s
41.  Tony Raines         Front Row Ford               39.229s  + 1.403s
42.  Ken Schrader        FAS Lane Ford                39.294s  + 1.468s
43.  Mike Skinner        Germain Toyota               39.298s  + 1.472s
44.  Johnny Sauter       Gordon Dodge                 39.384s  + 1.558s
45.  Erik Darnell        Whitney Chevrolet            39.547s  + 1.721s
46.  TJ Bell             LTD Toyota                   39.720s  + 1.894s

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