Jimmie Johnson might not be in the fight to win his seventh NASCAR title, but that again has not held him back as he took his first pole of the year, coming at the penultimate race of the season at Phoenix.

After being the spoiler last week with victory at Texas, Johnson set a new track qualifying record with a speed of 230.391 km/h (143.158 mph).

“Qualifying has never been my sweet spot, so it was good to get one this year,” said Johnson.

“Everyone at Hendrick Motorsports has worked hard to get better. We’re trying to get every trophy we can and have a little fun.”

Championship contender Kurt Busch will share the front row, while Johnson’s teammate, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start third alongside another title contender Carl Edwards. Martin Truex Jr., who is also in the championship fight, rounded out the top five.

Team Penske teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski, who both need a victory to advance to the Championship 4 at Homestead next weekend, were the lowest-qualifying Chase contenders in 14th and 18th respectively.

The other title contenders were in far better positions with Kevin Harvick in eighth, Kyle Busch in 10th, while the only driver locked into the Final 4, Jeff Gordon, will start from 11th.

VIDEO: Johnson talks about his pole

QUALIFYING: Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 – Phoenix International Raceway

POS.	CAR #	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	MPH	TIME	BEHIND
1	48	Jimmie Johnson		Lowe’s Patriotic	143.158	25.147	Leader
2	41	Kurt Busch		Haas Automation	142.880	25.196	–0.049
3	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr		Nationwide	142.580	25.249	–0.102
4	19	Carl Edwards		Stanley	142.501	25.263	–0.116
5	78	Martin Truex Jr		Furniture Row/Visser Precision	142.292	25.300	–0.153
6	42	Kyle Larson		Target Camo	142.287	25.301	–0.154
7	20	Erik Jones		Dollar General	142.219	25.313	–0.166
8	4	Kevin Harvick		Budweiser / Jimmy John’s	142.068	25.340	–0.193
9	5	Kasey Kahne		Farmers Insurance	142.062	25.341	–0.194
10	18	Kyle Busch		M&M’s Crispy	141.833	25.382	–0.235
11	24	Jeff Gordon		Pepsi	141.409	25.458	–0.311
12	1	Jamie McMurray		Sherwin Williams	141.409	25.458	–0.311
13	11	Denny Hamlin		FedEx Express	141.665	25.412	–0.265
14	22	Joey Logano		Pennzoil	141.649	25.415	–0.268
15	27	Paul Menard		Duracell / Menards	141.393	25.461	–0.314
16	3	Austin Dillon		Bad Boy Buggies / Realtree	141.343	25.470	–0.323
17	43	Aric Almirola		United States Air Force	141.282	25.481	–0.334
18	2	Brad Keselowski		Miller Lite	141.271	25.483	–0.336
19	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr		Cargill Ford Fusion	140.944	25.542	–0.395
20	16	Greg Biffle		Jardiance Ford Fusion	140.691	25.588	–0.441
21	10	Danica Patrick		GoDaddy	140.378	25.645	–0.498
22	31	Ryan Newman		Caterpillar Global Mining	140.280	25.663	–0.516
23	47	AJ Allmendinger		Fry’s/Clorox	140.252	25.668	–0.521
24	13	Casey Mears		GEICO Military	139.735	25.763	–0.616
25	51	Justin Allgaier		Brandt	139.492	25.808	–0.661
26	6	Trevor Bayne		Advocare Ford Fusion	139.459	25.814	–0.667
27	15	Clint Bowyer		5 Hour Energy	139.265	25.850	–0.703
28	9	Sam Hornish Jr		Go Bowling / G1GABLAST	139.114	25.878	–0.731
29	55	David Ragan		Aaron’s Online Dream Machine	138.910	25.916	–0.769
30	83	Matt DiBenedetto		VooDoo Barbeque	138.900	25.918	–0.771
31	14	Tony Stewart		Mobil 1 / Bass Pro Shops	138.739	25.948	–0.801
32	40	Landon Cassill		Interstate Moving Services	138.212	26.047	–0.900
33	26	J.J. Yeley		Maxim	138.164	26.056	–0.909
34	38	David Gilliland		Love’s Travel Stops	137.878	26.110	–0.963
35	7	Alex Bowman		Nikko RC / Toy State	137.868	26.112	–0.965
36	46	Michael Annett		Pilot Flying J	137.799	26.125	–0.978
37	23	Jeb Burton		Dr. Pepper	136.997	26.278	–1.131
38	35	Cole Whitt		TBD	136.820	26.312	–1.165
39	32	Joey Gase		R FACTOR 2	136.747	26.326	–1.179
40	34	Brett Moffitt		Dockside	136.462	26.381	–1.234
41	98	Ryan Preece		Xyience	135.486	26.571	–1.424
42	33	Ryan Ellis		ScienceLogic	134.710	26.724	–1.577
43	62	Timmy Hill		Prairie Auto Credit/Financial Concepts	131.507	27.375	–2.228

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