Kahne on surprise pole at Sonoma
Kasey Kahne took a surprise pole for the Toyota/Save-Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway, claiming his first ever Sprint Cup pole on a road course
The Gillett-Evernham driver was the third to complete his qualifying run and despite the 35-plus degrees Celsius, which translated into soaring track temperatures, he ran an impressive lap of 1:17.740 at an average speed of 92.153 mph, beating all the road-course specialists to pole position.
"I tried to make a conservative lap and charge where I could and stay consistent," Kahne said. "I felt like I could make that one lap and come close to pole. We've always raced well here for the first 70 laps and had problems in the last 30. But I've always liked this place, like Watkins Glen."
Jimmie Johnson will start alongside Kahne on the front row, followed by two more Dodges on the second row with Kurt Busch taking third followed by Petty Enterprises' Bobby Labonte who claimed his best qualifying result of the season.
Local hero Jeff Gordon rounded up the top-five after running strong in the morning practice as he bounces back from a disappointing last few weeks making his best qualifying effort for the last ten races. Elliot Sadler underlined the good pace of the Gillett-Evernham cars to take sixth, making it four Dodges in the top-six.
Australian Marcos Ambrose was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers taking seventh for his maiden Sprint Cup Series start driving the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford. The Aussie had topped the morning practice session and was able to back that up when it counted with a solid lap.
Robby Gordon and Ryan Newman put two more Dodges in the top-ten of the grid, followed by Greg Biffle in tenth and 51-year-old Terry Labonte, who gave his team the No. 45 Petty Enterprises team their best qualifying result of the season with eleventh.
Italian Max Papis made the field and will start on his Sprint Cup Series debut from 28th on the grid in the No. 66 Haas CNC Racing Chevrolet.
Denny Hamlin was the fastest Toyota qualifier in 13th in a disappointing session for the Japanese Manufacturer and the Joe Gibbs Racing cars. Points' leader Kyle Busch was only 30th, after his team forgot to take the tape off from the cowl of the carburetor before he ran and then on a second attempt they were hampered by an air box issue.
Last year's winner Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 21st struggling for traction in a difficult day for Chip Ganassi Racing. Scott Pruett was 27th, while surprisingly Dario Franchitti didn't make the field, complaining of a very loose car in his run.
JJ Yeley, Scott Riggs and Brandon Ash also failed to qualify.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Kasey Kahne Dodge 92.153 1:17.740 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 92.040 1:17.836 + 0.096 3. Kurt Busch Dodge 92.005 1:17.865 + 0.125 4. Bobby Labonte Dodge 91.943 1:17.918 + 0.178 5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 91.923 1:17.935 + 0.195 6. Elliott Sadler Dodge 91.843 1:18.003 + 0.263 7. Marcos Ambrose Ford 91.819 1:18.023 + 0.283 8. Robby Gordon Dodge 91.732 1:18.097 + 0.357 9. Ryan Newman Dodge 91.519 1:18.279 + 0.539 10. Greg Biffle Ford 91.448 1:18.340 + 0.600 11. Terry Labonte Dodge 91.448 1:18.340 + 0.600 12. Carl Edwards Ford 91.276 1:18.487 + 0.747 13. Denny Hamlin Toyota 91.206 1:18.547 + 0.807 14. Boris Said Ford 91.182 1:18.568 + 0.828 15. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 91.162 1:18.585 + 0.845 16. Dave Blaney Toyota 91.158 1:18.589 + 0.849 17. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 91.147 1:18.598 + 0.858 18. Jamie McMurray Ford 91.140 1:18.604 + 0.864 19. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 91.138 1:18.606 + 0.866 20. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 91.057 1:18.676 + 0.936 21. Juan Montoya Dodge 91.025 1:18.704 + 0.964 22. Ron Fellows Chevrolet 91.012 1:18.715 + 0.975 23. Casey Mears Chevrolet 90.984 1:18.739 + 0.999 24. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 90.955 1:18.764 + 1.024 25. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 90.951 1:18.768 + 1.028 26. Brian Vickers Toyota 90.932 1:18.784 + 1.044 27. Scott Pruett Dodge 90.905 1:18.808 + 1.068 28. Max Papis Chevrolet 90.870 1:18.838 + 1.098 29. Paul Menard Chevrolet 90.804 1:18.895 + 1.155 30. Kyle Busch Toyota 90.794 1:18.904 + 1.164 31. David Gilliland Ford 90.792 1:18.906 + 1.166 32. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 90.773 1:18.922 + 1.182 33. Matt Kenseth Ford 90.763 1:18.931 + 1.191 34. Michael McDowell Toyota 90.694 1:18.991 + 1.251 35. Michael Waltrip Toyota 90.647 1:19.032 + 1.292 36. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 90.509 1:19.152 + 1.412 37. Patrick Carpentier Dodge 90.375 1:19.270 + 1.530 38. David Ragan Ford 90.356 1:19.286 + 1.546 39. Tony Stewart Toyota 90.298 1:19.337 + 1.597 40. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 90.228 1:19.399 + 1.659 41. Travis Kvapil Ford 89.901 1:19.688 + 1.948 42. David Reutimann Toyota 88.817 1:20.660 + 2.920 43. Brian Simo Chevrolet 90.135 1:19.481 + 1.741 Did not qualify: 44. JJ Yeley Toyota 90.074 1:19.535 + 1.795 45. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 89.842 1:19.740 + 2.000 46. Dario Franchitti Dodge 89.750 1:19.822 + 2.082 47. Brandon Ash Dodge 88.123 1:21.295 + 3.555
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