Johnson takes Pocono Cup pole
Jimmie Johnson has carried his momentum from Indianapolis to claim his third pole position of the season and his second consecutive in qualifying for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway
The reigning Sprint Cup champion set a fastest lap of 53.503 seconds at an average speed of 168.215 mph, bumping veteran Mark Martin from the top spot by two tenths of a second. He will share the front row for the second week in a row with his future Hendrick teammate.
"That was a great lap for us," Johnson said. "The car was really comfortable. I knew coming to the green that I was going to be in good shape. We got the balance right for all three turns and the car was really working great.
"We had a really good practice session this morning, but we felt like could improve the car. The guys made some great decisions and it pretty much paid off. We really improved on things since last spring and where we are on the racecar. I think we've gone in the right direction."
Just like a week ago at Indy, Johnson unloaded with a fast car to set the pace in practice and later confirm his supremacy by grabbing pole. Martin had similarly been fast in practice, setting the second fastest lap of the session.
"That was a really good lap," said Martin. "I want to give credit to ECR Engines, great horsepower under the hood. It's just a real privilege to drive this race car. It's really fast. It was fast last week. We couldn't keep the right rear tires on it so maybe this week it'll be a different story."
David Gilliland was a surprise third fastest in qualifying, which will give him his best starting position of the season in his Yates Racing Ford. Jeff Gordon, who also ran strong at Indy last week, will share with him the second row of the grid for Sunday's race.
Matt Kenseth rounded up the top-five ahead of the fastest Dodge of Penske's Ryan Newman, who were followed by the June event winner at Pocono Kasey Kahne and runner up Brian Vickers as the top Toyota.
Sam Hornish Jr was the fastest qualifying rookie in 26th behind Terry Labonte, who is filling in for Patrick Carpentier this weekend as the Canadian focuses on his Nationwide series outing at Montreal.
Just behind them in 27th place on the grid will be points' leader Kyle Busch, who seemed puzzled by his poor showing. The JGR driver didn't run well in practice either finishing only 34th, which leaves him and his crew chief Steve Addington with plenty of work to do on Saturday's practice.
"We just can't figure it out," Busch said. "The car felt fine in qualifying. Not knowing how fast we had to drive it because we were pretty bad in practice compared to now and not getting the full effect of what the car really had in it."
Chad Chaffin was the only driver who didn't qualify as only 44 cars were entered for this weekend.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 168.215 53.503 2. Mark Martin Chevrolet 167.560 53.712 + 0.209 3. David Gilliland Ford 167.187 53.832 + 0.329 4. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 167.106 53.858 + 0.355 5. Matt Kenseth Ford 166.883 53.930 + 0.427 6. Ryan Newman Dodge 166.784 53.962 + 0.459 7. Kasey Kahne Dodge 166.522 54.047 + 0.544 8. Brian Vickers Toyota 166.522 54.047 + 0.544 9. Greg Biffle Ford 166.516 54.049 + 0.546 10. Kurt Busch Dodge 166.445 54.072 + 0.569 11. Bobby Labonte Dodge 166.392 54.089 + 0.586 12. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 166.349 54.103 + 0.600 13. Juan Montoya Dodge 166.199 54.152 + 0.649 14. Denny Hamlin Toyota 166.153 54.167 + 0.664 15. Carl Edwards Ford 166.076 54.192 + 0.689 16. David Ragan Ford 165.932 54.239 + 0.736 17. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 165.914 54.245 + 0.742 18. Tony Raines Chevrolet 165.868 54.260 + 0.757 19. Travis Kvapil Ford 165.828 54.273 + 0.770 20. Tony Stewart Toyota 165.773 54.291 + 0.788 21. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 165.767 54.293 + 0.790 22. Paul Menard Chevrolet 165.606 54.346 + 0.843 23. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 165.587 54.352 + 0.849 24. Dave Blaney Toyota 165.569 54.358 + 0.855 25. Terry Labonte Dodge 165.520 54.374 + 0.871 26. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 165.514 54.376 + 0.873 27. Kyle Busch Toyota 165.499 54.381 + 0.878 28. David Reutimann Toyota 165.465 54.392 + 0.889 29. Elliott Sadler Dodge 165.432 54.403 + 0.900 30. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 165.371 54.423 + 0.920 31. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 165.201 54.479 + 0.976 32. Reed Sorenson Dodge 165.168 54.490 + 0.987 33. Casey Mears Chevrolet 165.159 54.493 + 0.990 34. Chad McCumbee Dodge 165.029 54.536 + 1.033 35. Michael McDowell Toyota 165.010 54.542 + 1.039 36. Regan Smith Chevrolet 164.751 54.628 + 1.125 37. Bill Elliott Ford 164.706 54.643 + 1.140 38. Robby Gordon Dodge 164.684 54.650 + 1.147 39. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 164.660 54.658 + 1.155 40. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 164.546 54.696 + 1.193 41. Jamie McMurray Ford 164.525 54.703 + 1.200 42. Michael Waltrip Toyota 164.177 54.819 + 1.316 43. JJ Yeley Toyota 163.271 55.123 + 1.620
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