Australia’s Marcos Ambrose will start the final race of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season from second place after qualifying for Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Joey Logano took pole position, with Ambrose to start ahead of championship leader Brad Keselowski and fellow Ford drivers Carl Edwards and team-mate Aric Almirola.
“Yeah, I’ll take it,” said Ambrose.
“That was a really great lap for our Black & Decker Ford team. We’re excited to be so competitive and they brought a good car today. We just wanted to be somewhere in the top 10 to start Sunday’s race and have a good finish to our year.”
“I’m pretty pleased to be up front. We haven’t been great the last 10 weeks in qualifying, so it feels good to be up here, but I’ve got all the respect in the world for Brad Keselowski and all he does and what he stands for, so if I can be a friend to him on Sunday – I know I might have stolen the spotlight off of him in qualifying – but I’ll be his friend out there on Sunday.”
Keselowski takes a 20-point lead into the finale over five-time champion Jimmie Johnson. Keselowski only needs to finish 15th or better — or 16th or better if he leads at least one lap, and 17th or better if he leads the most laps — to win a first Cup championship for himself and team owner Roger Penske. Johnson will start 10th.
The Ford EcoBoost 400 gets underway Monday morning Australian time.
RACE LINEUP: Ford EcoBoost 400 – Homestead-Miami Speedway
|
POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
MPH |
TIME |
BEHIND |
| 1 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot / redbeacon.com | 176.056 | 30.672 | Leader |
| 2 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Black & Decker | 175.342 | 30.797 | -0.125 |
| 3 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 175.092 | 30.841 | -0.169 |
| 4 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 175.001 | 30.857 | -0.185 |
| 5 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 174.887 | 30.877 | -0.205 |
| 6 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 174.752 | 30.901 | -0.229 |
| 7 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 174.644 | 30.920 | -0.248 |
| 8 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 174.565 | 30.934 | -0.262 |
| 9 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 174.452 | 30.954 | -0.282 |
| 10 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 174.081 | 31.020 | -0.348 |
| 11 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 173.980 | 31.038 | -0.366 |
| 12 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 173.969 | 31.040 | -0.368 |
| 13 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / SP Richards | 173.930 | 31.047 | -0.375 |
| 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 173.807 | 31.069 | -0.397 |
| 15 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont 20 Years ‘Celebratory’ | 173.740 | 31.081 | -0.409 |
| 16 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 173.472 | 31.129 | -0.457 |
| 17 | 22 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 173.110 | 31.194 | -0.522 |
| 18 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Duracell | 173.077 | 31.200 | -0.528 |
| 19 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 172.988 | 31.216 | -0.544 |
| 20 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 172.662 | 31.275 | -0.603 |
| 21 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 172.640 | 31.279 | -0.607 |
| 22 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | Swan Racing | 172.563 | 31.293 | -0.621 |
| 23 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 172.546 | 31.296 | -0.624 |
| 24 | 51 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 172.507 | 31.303 | -0.631 |
| 25 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 172.474 | 31.309 | -0.637 |
| 26 | 78 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 172.265 | 31.347 | -0.675 |
| 27 | 6 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | Ford | Fifth Third Bank | 172.106 | 31.376 | -0.704 |
| 28 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 172.057 | 31.385 | -0.713 |
| 29 | 119 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 171.882 | 31.417 | -0.745 |
| 30 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 171.756 | 31.440 | -0.768 |
| 31 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Florida Lottery | 171.745 | 31.442 | -0.770 |
| 32 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Clorox | 171.679 | 31.454 | -0.782 |
| 33 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 171.630 | 31.463 | -0.791 |
| 34 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | CertainTeed / 31-W Insulation | 171.581 | 31.472 | -0.800 |
| 35 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 171.483 | 31.490 | -0.818 |
| 36 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | MDS Transport | 171.445 | 31.497 | -0.825 |
| 37 | 10 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | TMone.com | 171.222 | 31.538 | -0.866 |
| 38 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King | 170.832 | 31.610 | -0.938 |
| 39 | 37 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | C&C Audio Video & Appliance, Inc. | 170.762 | 31.623 | -0.951 |
| 40 | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 170.692 | 31.636 | -0.964 |
| 41 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 170.665 | 31.641 | -0.969 |
| 42 | 179 | Reed Sorenson | Toyota | United Supermarkets / reload.biz | 170.277 | 31.713 | -1.041 |
| 43 | 33 | Stephen Leicht* | Chevrolet | Little JoesAutos.com | 170.057 | 31.754 | -1.082 |
| 44 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 170.052 | 31.755 | -1.083 |
| 45 | 191 | Jason Leffler | Toyota | Plinker Tactical | 170.036 | 31.758 | -1.086 |
| 46 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves | 169.609 | 31.838 | -1.166 |
| 47 | 32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | Federated Auto Parts | 169.476 | 31.863 | -1.191 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
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