Kahne claims Michigan pole
Kasey Kahne will start on pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Nextel Cup round at Michigan
The Evernham Dodge driver had been quickest in the morning's practice session, and repeated that form to secure his fourth pole of the season.
"Hopefully it's the start of good things," said Kahne. "We've been doing a really good job of making our Dodge good throughout the whole run, that's the key. We'll have to do that through the entire race on Sunday and I think we can."
Kahne sat on pole for most of the session after deposing Brian Vickers early on. He then survived a late challenge from Jeff Gordon, the last driver in the qualifying queue. Gordon came within 0.021 seconds of beating Kahne.
"I was definitely worried," said Kahne. "Jeff Gordon always qualifies well and I've seen him get pole here before. I was thinking it might end up pretty close."
"I love this track, it's always been good to me," said Gordon. "It certainly didn't hurt to go out last.
"It's a real compromise today. This wind is really strong. We got through one and two awesome, but I just couldn't get the car to turn quite as good as I wanted to in three and four."
Vickers, who announced earlier this week that he will quit Hendrick Motorsports for the new Red Bull Toyota squad in 2007, held on to take third position.
"We definitely got all we could out of the car from both a set-up standpoint and a driving standpoint," he reckoned.
Series leader Jimmie Johnson qualified fourth - a distinct improvement on his 14th position in morning practice.
"We picked up six-tenths from practice to qualifying, so I can't complain a bit, it's a great run for us," Johnson said.
Ryan Newman will have to start at the back of the field after spinning his Penske Dodge.
"I just got loose, trying to push real hard," Newman explained. "We did one qualifying run in practice and it wasn't that good, so we freed it up a little bit, and I definitely think we went too far with the things we changed.
"The speed's there, just have to get the balance back and keep me from spinning it out."
Newman thinks that coming back through the field should be relatively straightforward at the fast and wide Michigan International Speedway.
"This is the best race track that we come to all year for racing, and getting three, four, five cars wide in the corners and drafting down the straightaways, so I'll look forward to the challenge," he said.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Kasey Kahne Dodge 185.644 38.784 2. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 185.543 38.805 + 0.021 3. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 184.995 38.920 + 0.136 4. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 184.943 38.931 + 0.147 5. Bobby Labonte Dodge 184.810 38.959 + 0.175 6. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 184.606 39.002 + 0.218 7. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 184.252 39.077 + 0.293 8. Mark Martin Ford 184.007 39.129 + 0.345 9. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 183.758 39.182 + 0.398 10. Greg Biffle Ford 183.589 39.218 + 0.434 11. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 183.552 39.226 + 0.442 12. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 183.496 39.238 + 0.454 13. Kurt Busch Dodge 183.337 39.272 + 0.488 14. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 183.309 39.278 + 0.494 15. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 183.271 39.286 + 0.502 16. Scott Riggs Dodge 183.262 39.288 + 0.504 17. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 182.746 39.399 + 0.615 18. Jeremy Mayfield Dodge 182.709 39.407 + 0.623 19. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 182.699 39.409 + 0.625 20. Matt Kenseth Ford 182.621 39.426 + 0.642 21. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 182.371 39.480 + 0.696 22. Ken Schrader Ford 182.279 39.500 + 0.716 23. Travis Kvapil Chevrolet 182.011 39.558 + 0.774 24. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 181.947 39.572 + 0.788 25. Reed Sorenson Dodge 181.896 39.583 + 0.799 26. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 181.878 39.587 + 0.803 27. Jeff Green Chevrolet 181.832 39.597 + 0.813 28. Michael Waltrip Dodge 181.791 39.606 + 0.822 29. Kevin Lepage Dodge 181.680 39.630 + 0.846 30. David Stremme Dodge 181.187 39.738 + 0.954 31. Carl Edwards Ford 181.128 39.751 + 0.967 32. Elliott Sadler Ford 181.118 39.753 + 0.969 33. Dave Blaney Dodge 180.868 39.808 + 1.024 34. Bill Lester Dodge 180.846 39.813 + 1.029 35. Kyle Petty Dodge 180.510 39.887 + 1.103 36. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 180.198 39.956 + 1.172 37. Casey Mears Dodge 180.194 39.957 + 1.173 38. Derrike Cope Dodge 180.162 39.964 + 1.180 39. Tony Raines Chevrolet 179.951 40.011 + 1.227 40. Mike Skinner Chevrolet 179.928 40.016 + 1.232 41. Dale Jarrett Ford 179.668 40.074 + 1.290 42. Carl Long Dodge 179.444 40.124 + 1.340 43. Mike Garvey Chevrolet 179.274 40.162 + 1.378 44. Chad Chaffin Dodge 178.430 40.352 + 1.568 45. Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet 178.020 40.445 + 1.661 46. Jamie McMurray Ford 177.488 40.566 + 1.782 47. Ryan Newman Dodge
Share Or Save This Story
Hamilton accepts blame for incident with Albon in F1 Brazilian GP
Ferrari drivers called to F1 stewards over Brazilian GP collision
Will Alonso's Indy failure end the age of versatility?
WRC Rally Portugal organisers fined after stage security breach
WRC Portugal: Ogier retakes lead after Solberg puncture drama
WEC Spa: BMW scores maiden Hypercar win in chaotic finish
Trackhouse MotoGP boss Brivio quits for factory Honda role in 2027
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments