BROOKLYN, Mich. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Chris Trotman/Getty Images North America photo —
Kevin Harvick may have dominated NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Coors Light Pole Qualifying on Friday afternoon at Michigan International Speedway, but when it mattered, Kasey Kahne was the man on top.
Kahne put up a blistering lap of 35.645 seconds (201.992 mph), just a tick shy of 202, en route to securing the top starting spot for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 (1 p.m. Eastern, FOX Sports 1, MRN and SiriusXM).
The pole was the 27th of Kahne’s Sprint Cup career, his first of the season and his third at Michigan. The pole was also Kahne’s first top qualifying effort in 90 races, with his last pole coming at Kansas in October of 2012.
“I got through turns one and two pretty good, I just got a little free but was able to stay in it,” Kahne said of his pole-winning lap. “In three, I was a little loose there and was backpedaling, so I pushed harder and I started to slide the nose. I knew it killed my exit (speed) a little, but it was still a great lap.”
“Our Great Clips Chevrolet had speed all three runs, so I knew we would have a shot at the pole. This is cool — it’s been a while since I had a pole — and hopefully we can use this to be there at the end of the race on Sunday as well.”
Harvick, who topped the first two knockout rounds in the No. 4 Budweiser/Stewart Haas Racing Chevrolet, was able to muster a lap of 35.712 seconds (201.613 mph), coming 0.067 of a second shy of sweeping the entirety of the three rounds of qualifying.
“The guys are doing a great job, Kasey just got in a little bit better lap than we did,” Harvick said of his final qualifying run. “The biggest focus is trying to get the most speed out of the car while keeping the handling in the car.”
Brad Keselowski was the fastest Ford in the Motor City, clocking in third-fastest with a lap of 35.741 seconds (201.449 mph); alongside the 2012 champion will be Carl Edwards’ Toyota (35.809/201.067).
Ryan Blaney rounded out the fast five with impressive laps in all three of his qualifying runs, putting down a time of 35.811 seconds (201.056 mph) in the final round in his Wood Brothers-owned No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford.
Four-time champion Jeff Gordon, Austin Dillon, defending race winner Jimmie Johnson, Pocono winner Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch rounded out the top 10.
Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth were the final two drivers to advance through all three knockout rounds and will start 11th and 12th, respectively.
Denny Hamlin starts 13th after being the first driver who failed to transfer to the final round. Hamlin was on the bubble before being bumped outside the top 12 by Truex inside the final minute of round two.
“On our second run, we just got too loose and I wasn’t able to be as aggressive with the throttle,” Hamlin explained. “With all the throttle we’re running around the race track, if you crack it even a little bit in the wrong place you’ll pay for it. So that hurt our lap time and we just didn’t get another run. I knew the guys who were able to get a second run would be faster, and that’s just part of [the knockout format] now.”
Other notables outside the fastest 12 included Dale Earnhardt Jr. (14th), Tony Stewart (15th), Danica Patrick (19th) and four-time Michigan winner Greg Biffle (21st).
Jamie McMurray was the first car to miss the cut for the second round of qualifying after being bumped out late by Patrick. McMurray will start 25th on Sunday in his McDonald’s Chevrolet, and said it was “frustrating” that he and his team did not make the call to go out and defend their bubble run in the final minutes of the session.
“It’s a team decision,” McMurray explained of the call to wait in line on pit road. “Danica was the last car to go out, and you’re basing [the decision] on what they ran the first time out. It just seemed like they needed to pick up a lot.”
“You don’t ever want to go out again unless you have to, and obviously now I wish we would have. I didn’t really drive the car hard enough in the first run … and I tried to put in a 90 percent lap that I thought would at least make it to the second round and it came up just a little bit short. It’s super frustrating.”
Other big names who failed to transfer out of the first round included 2014 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup contenders Aric Almirola (26th) and A.J. Allmendinger (31st), as well as Michael Waltrip Racing’s Clint Bowyer (32nd), who is in his first weekend working with new crew chief Billy Scott.
Brendan Gaughan was the lone driver who failed to qualify for Sunday’s race.
Sprint Cup teams will have two rounds of practice on Saturday (9 a.m. and noon ET, FS1) to dial their cars in for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400.
RESULTS: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series; Coors Light Pole Qualifying; Michigan International Speedway; June 12, 2015
- Kasey Kahne
- Kevin Harvick
- Brad Keselowski
- Carl Edwards
- Ryan Blaney
- Jeff Gordon
- Austin Dillon
- Jimmie Johnson
- Martin Truex Jr.
- Kyle Busch
- Joey Logano
- Matt Kenseth
- Denny Hamlin
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Tony Stewart
- Kyle Larson
- Paul Menard
- David Ragan
- Danica Patrick
- Trevor Bayne
- Greg Biffle
- Ty Dillon
- Ryan Newman
- Kurt Busch
- Jamie McMurray
- Aric Almirola
- Casey Mears
- Alex Bowman
- Landon Cassill
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- A.J. Allmendinger
- Clint Bowyer
- Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
- David Gilliland
- Michael Annett
- Justin Allgaier
- Brett Moffitt
- Jeb Burton
- Josh Wise
- Cole Whitt
- J.J. Yeley
- Mike Bliss
- Matt DiBenedetto
DNQ: Brendan Gaughan
