Biffle takes Cup Dover pole
Greg Biffle scored his second Sprint Cup Series pole position of the season in qualifying for the Best Buy 400 at Dover International Speedway
The Roush Fenway driver, who is still in talks with his current team to renew his contract for next season, set a fastest lap of 27.730 seconds at an average speed of 155.219 mph, knocking Kyle Busch from pole by nearly two tenths of a second.
"It's funny, the less time we spend on qualifying, the better we qualify and I can't explain that at all," Biffle said. "We knew that weather was a threat for practice tomorrow, so we made the decision as a team to spend the entire time today working on race runs.
"We only switched over [to qualifying trim] with about seven to nine minutes left in practice. We made one qualifying run and were third on the speed chart.
"The guys went back and made some adjustments to it and kind of paid attention on pit road to what everyone was saying and made a tire adjustment before I went out to qualify. I'm telling you the car was absolutely perfect."
Kurt Busch will start alongside him after beating his brother's lap as well towards the end of the session. He was one of the latest to post his qualifying lap before the group of non-guaranteed drivers completed their respective runs.
Points' leader Kyle Busch will start alongside his former Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jimmie Johnson on the second row of the grid, followed by Roush Fenway's Jamie McMurray and Red Bull's Brian Vickers on the third row.
Jeff Gordon had posted the fastest lap in the morning practice but was unable to match his that pace in qualifying running more than a tenth of second slower to take seventh on the starting grid for Sunday.
In yet another good qualifying for Red Bull, AJ Allmendinger posted the eighth fastest lap meaning both of the team's cars will start from the top-ten for the second time during the season. Allmendinger was the fastest of those who qualified on time for Sunday.
Just after signing a contract extension with Gillett Evernham, Elliot Sadler posted his fourth consecutive top-ten qualifying effort, taking ninth on the grid. He will start beside Jeremy Mayfield who did a good job filling in for Dario Franchitti, qualifying the car on time.
Matt Crafton filled in for Robby Gordon in qualifying and was 41st fastest. Crafton will run the car in Saturday's practice also, while Gordon is competing in the Baja 500. However Gordon is scheduled to start Sunday's race.
Sam Hornish Jr was the fastest among the rookie qualifiers in 17th place.
Jason Leffler, who was making a one-off for Haas CNC in the No. 70 Chevrolet failed to make the field, as did Chad McCumbee at the wheel of Kyle Petty's No. 45 Dodge.
Weather forecasts say there is a 60 per cent chance of rain for Saturday, when teams are scheduled to complete two further practice sessions before the race.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Greg Biffle Ford 155.219 23.193 2. Kurt Busch Dodge 153.971 23.381 + 0.188 3. Kyle Busch Toyota 153.767 23.412 + 0.219 4. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 153.754 23.414 + 0.221 5. Jamie McMurray Ford 153.597 23.438 + 0.245 6. Brian Vickers Toyota 153.413 23.466 + 0.273 7. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 153.368 23.473 + 0.280 8. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 152.912 23.543 + 0.350 9. Elliott Sadler Dodge 152.873 23.549 + 0.356 10. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 152.847 23.553 + 0.360 11. Ryan Newman Dodge 152.782 23.563 + 0.370 12. Travis Kvapil Ford 152.685 23.578 + 0.385 13. Paul Menard Chevrolet 152.678 23.579 + 0.386 14. Carl Edwards Ford 152.646 23.584 + 0.391 15. Kasey Kahne Dodge 152.523 23.603 + 0.410 16. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 152.458 23.613 + 0.420 17. David Gilliland Ford 152.362 23.628 + 0.435 18. Dave Blaney Toyota 152.258 23.644 + 0.451 19. Bobby Labonte Dodge 152.194 23.654 + 0.461 20. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 152.104 23.668 + 0.475 21. Matt Kenseth Ford 152.104 23.668 + 0.475 22. Tony Stewart Toyota 152.078 23.672 + 0.479 23. David Ragan Ford 151.771 23.720 + 0.527 24. Bill Elliott Ford 151.732 23.726 + 0.533 25. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 151.630 23.742 + 0.549 26. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 151.624 23.743 + 0.550 27. JJ Yeley Toyota 151.541 23.756 + 0.563 28. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 151.528 23.758 + 0.565 29. Regan Smith Chevrolet 151.350 23.786 + 0.593 30. Mark Martin Chevrolet 151.318 23.791 + 0.598 31. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 151.267 23.799 + 0.606 32. Michael McDowell Toyota 151.260 23.800 + 0.607 33. Denny Hamlin Toyota 151.133 23.820 + 0.627 34. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 150.981 23.844 + 0.651 35. Juan Montoya Dodge 150.823 23.869 + 0.676 36. Patrick Carpentier Dodge 150.710 23.887 + 0.694 37. David Reutimann Toyota 150.514 23.918 + 0.725 38. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 150.458 23.927 + 0.734 39. Casey Mears Chevrolet 149.850 24.024 + 0.831 40. Michael Waltrip Toyota 149.645 24.057 + 0.864 41. Matt Crafton Dodge 149.099 24.145 + 0.952 42. Reed Sorenson Dodge 148.705 24.209 + 1.016 43. Tony Raines Chevrolet 150.232 23.963 + 0.770
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