|
 Kahne sped around the two-mile track at 201.992 mph to knock Harvick
off the pole for Sunday's Quicken Loans 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
race (1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1).
Harvick, who posted a 201.613 mph lap in the final session, had
topped the charts in the first two rounds, matching Kahne's
pole-winning time in the second.
The pole was Kahne's third of the season and the 27th of his career
but his first since the October 2012 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup
race at Kansas Speedway.
Brad Keselowski (201.449 mph) qualified third, followed by Carl
Edwards (201.067 mph) and Ryan Blaney (201.056 mph), who is running
a partial schedule for the Wood Brothers.
With a 2012 repaving project having narrowed the racing groove at
Michigan, Kahne underscored the value of starting up front -- and
staying there.
"It's going to be really important," said Kahne, who also gets the
benefit of selecting pit stall No. 1, closest to the exit from pit
road. "The track is going to change a lot, though, come Sunday, with
all the racing going on this weekend and then our practices (on
Saturday).
"The track will be a lot different Sunday. So there will be some
passing for sure, but it's not going to be easy. So track position
will play a big role in being there at the end of the race."
Harvick remains the only driver to sweep all three rounds of
qualifying at a single track, a feat he accomplished last year at
Michigan and Indianapolis, but he fell .067 of a second from doing
so for a third time.
"I don't know that I got everything out of it (the final lap), but
the rounds were within seven hundredths (of a second) of each
other," Harvick said. "The guys were doing a great job, and Kasey
just got a little bit better lap there than we did."
[to top of second column] |
With possible rain in the forecast, Blaney was nervous as qualifying
approached, but not because of the competition. If rain had washed
out time trials, the Wood Brothers' car would not have made the
field, based on fewest qualifying attempts this season -- a product
of a limited schedule.
"It was funny the way it played out," Blaney said. "It looked like
two cells coming at us (on the radar), and a small slit in the
middle of them, and we passed right through that slit. That was just
kind of lucky for us.
"Like I said, it would have stung knowing how good of a car we had
in practice if qualifying rained out. We're fortunate to get it in,
and it's a bonus to have a good race car."
Brendan Gaughan, who unlike Blaney would have benefited from a
rainout, failed to make the 43-car field.
-----------------------------------------------
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
