Kansas NASCAR: Kasey Kahne on pole as speeds rise
Kasey Kahne claimed his fourth pole position of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season with a record-setting lap in qualifying for Sunday's Chase round at the newly repaved Kansas Speedway
The Hendrick Motorsports driver denied veteran Mark Martin another pole. Martin's benchmark was beaten by the #5 Chevrolet with a flying lap at an average speed of 191.360 mph, just a couple of hundredths faster than what the Michael Waltrip Racing driver had managed.
Given the track's resurfacing and reconfiguration, which included adding variable and increased banking in the turns, the whole field lapped under the existing track record. Kahne actually ran 1.6 seconds faster despite Goodyear's cautious approach with tyre selection for the weekend.
"The car was awesome right there," Kahne said. "It was great. I went into [Turn] 3, and felt like I could go wide open. So I went back to wide open, and then I started just chattering a little bit. So, I eased off the throttle and back down. I definitely gave up a little time doing that."
Martin's team-mate Clint Bowyer, fresh from his victory at Charlotte last week, was third fastest and also broke the 191mph barrier. Kyle Busch made it three Toyotas among the top four on the grid.
Richard Petty's Aric Almirola was the best Ford in fifth ahead of Stewart-Haas' Ryan Newman and Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson.
Joe Gibbs duo Joey Logano and title contender Denny Hamlin followed in eighth and ninth respectively. Hamlin was running his back-up car after crashing his primary one during Thursday morning's test session.
Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick completed the top 10 ahead of Greg Biffle, who was unable to back up his speed from practice earlier in the day, having run a lap that would have placed him on the front row during the opening session.
Chase leader Brad Keselowski had yet another poor qualifying with only 25th fastest place - his third consecutive start outside the top 20. But he is still expected to be a factor in Sunday's race at the track where he claimed his first Cup victory for Penske Racing last year in a fuel-saving run.
Michael McDowell was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 23rd. Cole Whitt, David Stremme and Josh Wise failed to make the field.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 28.219s 2. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 28.237s + 0.018s 3. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 28.253s + 0.034s 4. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 28.258s + 0.039s 5. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 28.274s + 0.055s 6. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.294s + 0.075s 7. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 28.296s + 0.077s 8. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 28.300s + 0.081s 9. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 28.314s + 0.095s 10. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 28.360s + 0.141s 11. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 28.363s + 0.144s 12. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 28.365s + 0.146s 13. AJ Allmendinger Phoenix Chevrolet 28.398s + 0.179s 14. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 28.401s + 0.182s 15. Sam Hornish Jr Penske Dodge 28.407s + 0.188s 16. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 28.430s + 0.211s 17. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 28.434s + 0.215s 18. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 28.447s + 0.228s 19. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 28.493s + 0.274s 20. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 28.516s + 0.297s 21. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.531s + 0.312s 22. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 28.531s + 0.312s 23. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 28.532s + 0.313s 24. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 28.594s + 0.375s 25. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 28.606s + 0.387s 26. Landon Cassill BK Toyota 28.625s + 0.406s 27. JJ Yeley Max Q Chevrolet 28.627s + 0.408s 28. Casey Mears Germain Ford 28.632s + 0.413s 29. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 28.667s + 0.448s 30. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 28.697s + 0.478s 31. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 28.701s + 0.482s 32. Trevor Bayne Wood Brothers Ford 28.715s + 0.496s 33. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.745s + 0.526s 34. Reed Sorenson Humphrey Smith Toyota 28.760s + 0.541s 35. Scott Speed Leavine Ford 28.762s + 0.543s 36. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 28.788s + 0.569s 37. David Ragan Front Row Ford 28.804s + 0.585s 38. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 28.841s + 0.622s 39. Regan Smith Hendrick Chevrolet 28.849s + 0.630s 40. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.893s + 0.674s 41. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 29.384s + 1.165s 42. Timmy Hill FAS Lane Ford 29.408s + 1.189s 43. Kelly Bires Go Green Ford 28.833s + 0.614s Did not qualify: Cole Whitt Circle Sport Chevrolet 28.896s + 0.677s David Stremme Inception Toyota 29.028s + 0.809s Josh Wise Front Row Ford 29.589s + 1.370s
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