Kasey Kahne has scored his first pole position since joining Hendrick Motorsports at the start of the season with a qualifying lap record at the Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kahne’s topped the timesheets with 28.353-seconds an average speed of 306.509 km/h (190.456 mph) on the 1.5-mile tri-oval to earn his 23rd career pole.
Las Vegas native Kyle Busch qualified second in perfect warm conditions where 15 drivers eclipsed Matt Kenseth’s record of 303.979 km/h set last year and is the fourth straight year the qualifying mark has been bettered.
Kahne signed with Hendrick Motorsports back in 2010, but had to wait until this season to join the team as Mark Martin remained under contract through 2011. Last year he drove for Red Bull Toyota, which closed its doors at the end of the season despite Kahne’s victory at the penultimate race at Phoenix.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose will start 15th, but will go into the race with plenty of confident after setting the fourth quickest time in practice. The Tasmanian has been fast over the opening two races at Daytona and last week in Phoenix. However, his Daytona 500 hopes were dashed when he was involved in a collision, while last week a certain top-three finish was ended when he had engine failure with 15 laps remaining.
The Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be run Monday morning Australian time.
QUALIFYING
Kobalt Tools 400 | Las Vegas Motor Speedway : Race 3 of 36
|
POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
SPEED/MPH |
TIME |
BEHIND |
| 1 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 190.456 | 28.353 | Leader |
| 2 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s Ms. Brown | 190.040 | 28.415 | -0.062 |
| 3 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 190.014 | 28.419 | -0.066 |
| 4 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 189.873 | 28.440 | -0.087 |
| 5 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 189.807 | 28.450 | -0.097 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 189.773 | 28.455 | -0.102 |
| 7 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Mobil 1 / Office Depot | 189.667 | 28.471 | -0.118 |
| 8 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Dollar General | 189.620 | 28.478 | -0.125 |
| 9 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / Meguiars | 189.500 | 28.496 | -0.143 |
| 10 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 189.421 | 28.508 | -0.155 |
| 11 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Zest | 189.208 | 28.540 | -0.187 |
| 12 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Tag Heuer Eyewear | 189.148 | 28.549 | -0.196 |
| 13 | 55 | Mark Martin | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 188.970 | 28.576 | -0.223 |
| 14 | 22 | A.J. Allmendinger | Dodge | Pennzoil | 188.937 | 28.581 | -0.228 |
| 15 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Dewalt | 188.910 | 28.585 | -0.232 |
| 16 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont 20 Years | 188.758 | 28.608 | -0.255 |
| 17 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Freight | 188.712 | 28.615 | -0.262 |
| 18 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans | 188.436 | 28.657 | -0.304 |
| 19 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 188.160 | 28.699 | -0.346 |
| 20 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 188.134 | 28.703 | -0.350 |
| 21 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 188.088 | 28.710 | -0.357 |
| 22 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 187.754 | 28.761 | -0.408 |
| 23 | 33 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | South Point Hotel & Casino | 187.669 | 28.774 | -0.421 |
| 24 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Kingsford / Bush’s Beans | 187.663 | 28.775 | -0.422 |
| 25 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 187.363 | 28.821 | -0.468 |
| 26 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Schrock / Menards | 187.305 | 28.830 | -0.477 |
| 27 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Richard Petty Fantasy Racing Camp | 186.987 | 28.879 | -0.526 |
| 28 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 186.987 | 28.879 | -0.526 |
| 29 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Clorox | 186.780 | 28.911 | -0.558 |
| 30 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King | 185.650 | 29.087 | -0.734 |
| 31 | 10 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | Accell Construction | 185.644 | 29.088 | -0.735 |
| 32 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 185.274 | 29.146 | -0.793 |
| 33 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | Morristown Driver’s Service | 184.837 | 29.215 | -0.862 |
| 34 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 184.685 | 29.239 | -0.886 |
| 35 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 184.388 | 29.286 | -0.933 |
| 36 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | America Israel Racing | 184.370 | 29.289 | -0.936 |
| 37 | 93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King | 184.175 | 29.320 | -0.967 |
| 38 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Ollie’s Bargain Outlet | 183.949 | 29.356 | -1.003 |
| 39 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Curb Records | 183.861 | 29.370 | -1.017 |
| 40 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves | 183.542 | 29.421 | -1.068 |
| 41 | 32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | Federated Auto Parts | 183.306 | 29.459 | -1.106 |
| 42 | 37 | Timmy Hill* | Ford | Poynt.com | 182.877 | 29.528 | -1.175 |
| 43 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | Inception Motorsports | 182.704 | 29.556 | -1.203 |
| DNQ | 23 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe / Riviera Hotel | 182.426 | 29.601 | -1.248 |
| DNQ | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy | 182.285 | 29.624 | -1.271 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
For more of the latest NASCAR news and analysis, visit Speedcafe US
