Greg Biffle has taken pole position for Saturday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington.
Biffle, a two-time Darlington winner (2005/06) toured the 1.366-mile circuit in 27.281s (180.2557mph) to win the pole for, beating Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne.
The Sprint Cup leader snagged his second Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at Darlington and the 11th of his career.
“This is what a race car driver looks forward to, showing up every weekend and having a really fast car to drive,” said Biffle.
“They’re making me look good so far.
“It was a pretty uneventful lap. The car just had a ton of grip – it stuck to the race track really, really well. I felt like I was a little bit light down in Turns 1 and 2, I should have been a little bit quicker down there, but I got a lot out of it in 3 and 4, so it was a great lap.”
Johnson and Kahne ran identical speeds (179.566mph), with Johnson winning the front-row starting spot from his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate on an owner points tiebreaker.
Ryan Newman (179.461mph) qualified fourth, followed by Kyle Busch (179.448mph).
Australian Marcos Ambrose will start 28th, while Danica Patrick qualified 38th at 175.497mph for her Cup debut at Darlington, picking up approximately .75 seconds from her fastest lap in practice. The Southern 500 will be Patrick’s second Cup race and her first in a Cup car with an open motor.
Darlington qualifying results
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| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / O’Reilly Auto Parts | 180.257 | 27.281 | Leader |
| 2 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 179.566 | 27.386 | -0.105 |
| 3 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 179.566 | 27.386 | -0.105 |
| 4 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 179.461 | 27.402 | -0.121 |
| 5 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Wrigley’s Doublemint | 179.448 | 27.404 | -0.123 |
| 6 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 179.317 | 27.424 | -0.143 |
| 7 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Ford EcoBoost | 179.298 | 27.427 | -0.146 |
| 8 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 179.187 | 27.444 | -0.163 |
| 9 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 179.141 | 27.451 | -0.170 |
| 10 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 179.095 | 27.458 | -0.177 |
| 11 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Allstate | 179.089 | 27.459 | -0.178 |
| 12 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger / AARP | 179.076 | 27.461 | -0.180 |
| 13 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Verifone Sail | 178.991 | 27.474 | -0.193 |
| 14 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Turtle Wax / Menards | 178.926 | 27.484 | -0.203 |
| 15 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 178.822 | 27.500 | -0.219 |
| 16 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil-AAA | 178.783 | 27.506 | -0.225 |
| 17 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 178.724 | 27.515 | -0.234 |
| 18 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 178.491 | 27.551 | -0.270 |
| 19 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 178.226 | 27.592 | -0.311 |
| 20 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 178.090 | 27.613 | -0.332 |
| 21 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Dollar General | 177.980 | 27.630 | -0.349 |
| 22 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Bush’s Baked Beans | 177.974 | 27.631 | -0.350 |
| 23 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Rheem | 177.948 | 27.635 | -0.354 |
| 24 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 177.903 | 27.642 | -0.361 |
| 25 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction Services | 177.845 | 27.651 | -0.370 |
| 26 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | Aaron’s / Alabama National Champions | 177.781 | 27.661 | -0.380 |
| 27 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target / Kraft | 177.307 | 27.735 | -0.454 |
| 28 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 176.930 | 27.794 | -0.513 |
| 29 | 179 | Scott Speed | Ford | Team Kyle / Koma Unwind | 176.879 | 27.802 | -0.521 |
| 30 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | Morristown Driver’s Service | 176.746 | 27.823 | -0.542 |
| 31 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 176.733 | 27.825 | -0.544 |
| 32 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | Stock Car Steel and Aluminum | 176.606 | 27.845 | -0.564 |
| 33 | 173 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 176.594 | 27.847 | -0.566 |
| 34 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | SealWrap.com | 176.530 | 27.857 | -0.576 |
| 35 | 52 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | CrusaderStaffing.com | 175.899 | 27.957 | -0.676 |
| 36 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 175.767 | 27.978 | -0.697 |
| 37 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 175.604 | 28.004 | -0.723 |
| 38 | 10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 175.497 | 28.021 | -0.740 |
| 39 | 74 | Cole Whitt | Chevrolet | Turn One Racing | 175.497 | 28.021 | -0.740 |
| 40 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves | 175.022 | 28.097 | -0.816 |
| 41 | 93 | David Reutimann+ | Toyota | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 174.408 | 28.196 | -0.915 |
| 42 | 32 | Reed Sorenson+ | Ford | Southern Pride Trucking | 173.724 | 28.307 | -1.026 |
| 43 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents | 174.848 | 28.125 | -0.844 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 174.823 | 28.129 | -0.848 |
| 45 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Curb Records | 174.730 | 28.144 | -0.863 |
| 46 | 33 | Stephen Leicht | Chevrolet | Little JoesAutos.com / Link-Belt | 174.662 | 28.155 | -0.874 |
| 47 | 119 | Mike Bliss | Toyota | Humphrey Smith Racing | 174.649 | 28.157 | -0.876 |
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