Freaky fast again: Kevin Harvick wins fifth pole of 2014
With storms fast approaching Bristol Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars picked up the speeds in qualifying for Saturday night's IRWIN Tools Night Race.
Michigan winner Jeff Gordon continued his hot streak by blasting to the top of the charts with a lap of 131.290 mph in the final round, but his fast speed didn't last as Kevin Harvick's No. 4 Chevrolet topped Gordon for the pole.
Harvick's lap of 131.362 mph was a new track record at Bristol, besting Gordon's qualifying lap by 0.008 seconds.
The run marked Harvick's fifth pole of the 2014 season, the most of all drivers this year. Harvick had scored only five poles in his previous 13 years in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series before joining Stewart-Haas Racing ahead of this season.
"It feels great," said Harvick. "Just have to thank everybody on our Jimmy John's team for really everything they do every week for qualifying and race cars that they bring to the racetrack are just incredibly fast. They have helped improve my qualifying record a tremendous amount. Today was no different."
For Gordon, this marks his 16th front-row start in 44 Bristol starts.
"Gosh, I'm still excited," said Gordon. "In practice we were pretty good, but we needed a little bit more and again just a great team effort and communication by this Drive To End Hunger Chevy SS team. We are just so thrilled to get a front-row start here at Bristol. This means a lot. I know it wasn't a pole. Kevin put up a great lap. I thought I had a really good lap that first run out. I came on the radio and I said, 'That is all I got.'"
Carl Edwards posted the third-fastest time of the session, followed by Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Greg Biffle, Brad Keselowski, Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman, and Kasey Kahne.
Gordon was fastest in the first of two qualifying sessions, marking the third-straight qualifying session in which he's been atop the board.
Harvick posted the second-fastest time of the opening session, followed by Edwards, Ambrose, Kyle Busch, Newman, Keselowski, Kurt Busch, Johnson, Logano, Biffle and Kahne.
Each of the drivers who advanced to the final round broke the previous track record.
Denny Hamlin, Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers just missed out on advancing to the final round, and will start Saturday night's race from 13th, 14th and 15th, respectively.
Fastest in final practice, Ricky Stenhouse Jr.'s car had issues making it through NASCAR technical inspection, getting the green light from the sanctioning body with 11 minutes and 45 seconds left in the opening session. Stenhouse was able to make it to pit road and start his qualifying effort with just over eight minutes remaining in the session.
Once on track, Stenhouse recorded the 22nd-fastest lap of the session and was eventually able to improve to 21st.
Kyle Larson, who was fastest in the day's opening practice, had high hopes for the pole. Those hopes did not come to fruition, however, as Larson lost control of the No. 42 as he exited Turn 4 on his second lap. Making contact with the right rear, Larson's car slid down the frontstretch banking and made further contact with the right-front nose.
After making repairs, Larson was able to get back on track with 15 minutes left in the opening round, improving his time, but not his position of 40th.
"I was definitely over the edge," he said. "It's frustrating because we had a really, really good Target Chevy in practice with definitely top-five speeds. Now I don't know what we have."
Larson was not the only driver to make contact with the wall in the first session, however. Aric Almirola was also in the top six in both of Friday's practice sessions, but hit the wall hard before completing his qualifying lap.
"I screwed up and that's all there is to it," said Almirola. "We have probably the best race car I've ever had at Bristol, and I screwed up and hit the fence."
In addition to Larson and Almirola, Casey Mears and rookie Cole Whitt also wrecked during the opening qualifying session.
With only 43 cars entered, every driver made the field for Saturday's Irwin Tools Night Race.
