TALLADEGA, Ala. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Sarah Crabill/Getty Images for NASCAR photo —
In his final year of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series competition, Jeff Gordon proved to all onlookers that no one was better than he at restrictor-plate qualifying sessions.
Gordon surged around the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway in 49.234 seconds (194.500 mph) during Saturday afternoon’s final round of Coors Light Pole Qualifying, garnering his 81st career Sprint Cup pole, fourth of the season and fifth overall at NASCAR’s longest race track.
The power play completed a sweep of the plate track poles for Gordon in 2015, who also qualified first at the season-opening Daytona 500 and the May Talladega event prior to Saturday afternoon. (Qualifying for the July 5 event at Daytona was rained out, so no Coors Light Pole Award was issued for that event.)
“These guys work extremely hard. I know everybody does for these restrictor plate tracks, but to be able to get the results like that – and they’ve been doing it all year long on these tracks – that is just a complete credit to all the details,” said Gordon, who led both rounds of time trials and will make his 46th and final Talladega start on Sunday. “Alan (Gufstason, crew chief) really does a phenomenal job, but he’s been especially good on these tracks with these cars.”
Gordon’s lightning-quick lap was nearly a quarter-second quicker than his teammate Kasey Kahne, who will start alongside the four-time Sprint Cup champion after he posted the second-fastest lap of 49.453 seconds (193.638 mph) in the second and final round. Kahne also started second to Gordon during the May stop at Talladega.
Six-time series titlist Jimmie Johnson (49.467/193.584) was 14 one-thousandths (0.014) of a second shy of Kahne’s lap, and will share the second row on the grid with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth (49.468/193.580), who enters Sunday’s CampingWorld.com 500 (2:30 p.m. ET, NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM) needing to win the race to advance to the Eliminator Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Fellow must-win driver Dale Earnhardt Jr., winner of the last two restrictor plate races on the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, rounded out the fast five (49.575/193.162) to give team owner Rick Hendrick four of the top five starting spots for the second elimination race of the Chase.
Trevor Bayne, who led the first half of the final round of qualifying, ended up sixth-fastest ahead of reigning series champion Kevin Harvick, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, defending race winner Brad Keselowski and three-time champion Tony Stewart.
Paul Menard was the first driver to miss the cut to transfer out of round one, and will start 13th in his No. 27 Menards Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing.
Chase drivers who missed the final round of qualifying included Kurt Busch (14th), Carl Edwards (15th), Kyle Busch (16th), Ryan Newman (18th) and Martin Truex Jr. (43rd).
Truex will start last after his qualifying time was disallowed — the Mayetta, N.J. driver took his No. 78 Furniture Row/Visser Precision Chevrolet below the double-yellow line coming through the tri-oval on his timed lap, a move illegal by NASCAR rules under the single-car qualifying procedure.
“We didn’t make qualifying runs in practice or anything so we really didn’t know what we had and honestly ran faster than we thought we would have,” Truex said. “Good job by the team, obviously, preparing the car, but the double-yellow line deal, I just didn’t know anything about it. So, Cole (Pearn, crew chief) said, ‘Sorry, guess I should have told you the change.’ Just one of those memos that I didn’t get, so a little confused there.”
Jeb Burton and Michael Annett were the two drivers who failed to make the 43-car field for Sunday’s race.
RESULTS: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series; Coors Light Pole Qualifying; Talladega Superspeedway; October 24, 2015
- Jeff Gordon
- Kasey Kahne
- Jimmie Johnson
- Matt Kenseth
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Trevor Bayne
- Kevin Harvick
- Denny Hamlin
- Ryan Blaney
- Joey Logano
- Brad Keselowski
- Tony Stewart
- Paul Menard
- Kurt Busch
- Carl Edwards
- Kyle Busch
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- Ryan Newman
- Greg Biffle
- Danica Patrick
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- David Ragan
- Kyle Larson
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Austin Dillon
- Michael McDowell
- Casey Mears
- Clint Bowyer
- J.J. Yeley
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Timmy Hill
- Michael Waltrip
- Cole Whitt
- Bobby Labonte
- Matt DiBenedetto
- Alex Bowman
- David Gilliland
- Justin Allgaier
- Josh Wise
- Landon Cassill
- Travis Kvapil
- Matrin Truex Jr.
DNQ: Jeb Burton, Michael Annett
About the Writer
Jacob Seelman is the Managing Editor of Race Chaser Online and creator of the Motorsports Madness radio show, airing at 7 p.m. Eastern every Monday on the Performance Motorsports Network. Seelman grew up in the sport, watching his grandparents co-own the RaDiUs Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series team in the 1990s.
The 21-year-old is currently studying Broadcast Journalism at Winthrop University in Rock Hill, S.C., and is also serving as the full-time tour announcer for both the United Sprint Car Series and the Must See Racing Sprint Car Series.
Email Jacob at: speed77radio@gmail.com
Follow on Twitter: @Speed77Radio or @JacobSeelman77
Email Race Chaser Online: news@racechaseronline.com
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