Kyle Busch snares Charlotte pole in blistering-fast qualifying session

Busch, who struggled to find speed over much of the summer, was the surprise pole winner for Saturday night's Bank of America 500, as 21 drivers broke the existing Charlotte Motor Speedway track record in qualifying on Thursday night.

Busch's No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the most consistent of the cars over three rounds, as he ran 197.390 miles per hour in the final session to take his third pole of the year and the 16th of his career in 360 starts.

"We'll see how this weekend goes. Hopefully, we can come out of here with a solid finish," said Busch, who enters the second of three races in the Contender Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup second in points.

For much of the season, the JGR Toyotas have lacked speed relative to the dominant Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports squads, but you'd have never known that Thursday night when Busch gave JGR its 78th pole. 

"We're working on it and we're getting better," said Busch.

Busch was not the fastest in the first two rounds -- his older brother, Kurt, set a new track record in Round 2 -- but Kyle was fastest in the last round, which determines the first 12 positions.

"It felt good -- the car, all around -- through the rounds," said Busch. "It was pretty consistent and ran relatively the same lap times each time out, and we just kept backing that up. When you can do those things, that's pretty good."

Starting on the outside of Row 1 on Saturday night will be Jeff Gordon in the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, which ran 197.217 mph.

"Oh, my gosh, it's so fast, so much grip, so much commitment," said Gordon.

Busch's teammate Denny Hamlin will start on the inside of Row 2, flanked by three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion Tony Stewart. Ryan Newman and Paul Menard will roll off from Row 3, followed by Kevin Harvick, Brian Vickers, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Carl Edwards.

It was a dramatic evening at the venerable 1.5-mile track, where the drivers had to survive and advance through three timed periods.

During his first attempt at qualifying during the opening round, Jimmie Johnson got loose in Turn 1 and nearly crashed. After sitting for an extended period of time, Johnson went back out with 4 minutes left in the session and ran 11th fastest, enough to make it into the second stanza.

Kasey Kahne was fastest in Round 1, at 197.976 mph, as the top 21 cars all broke the existing track record and all 12 Chase drivers advanced to Round 2.

The only driver who failed to qualify was Trevor Bayne, who was attempting to start his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race with Roush Fenway Racing.

In Round 2, Kurt Busch ran 198.771 mph, the fastest lap in NASCAR history at a 1.5-mile track. The elder Busch's run was the 21st track record this season.

Five Chase drivers failed to advance out of this session. Sprint Cup points leader Joey Logano was 13th, with Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski 17th; Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kahne and Johnson wound up 19th and 21st, respectively, and Matt Kenseth was 22nd. Danica Patrick qualified 14th.

"Disappointing, no way around it," said Johnson.

"We've been off a little in qualifying trim, but we're good in race trim," added Keselowski, who won this race from the 23rd starting spot last year, leading only 11 of 334 laps.