Matt Kenseth has given himself every chance of taking the NASCAR Sprint Cup title with pole position at the season-ending Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Joining Kenseth (third pole of the season) on the front row will be Kurt Busch.
The Toyota driver trails Jimmie Johnson by 28 points and will need to keep his qualifying form going into the race, plus rely on his Chevrolet rival having a very poor event on Sunday.
Last weekend in Phoenix Kenseth finished in 23rd, a full 20 places behind Johnson. The points differential between each finishing place is just a single marker, plus every driver that leads a lap earns a bonus point; same goes to the driver who leads the most laps.
“I’m always surprised when I’m on the pole and I haven’t been surprised very often in my career,” said Kenseth.
“We know that we’re capable if we do everything right.”
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Johnson will start from seventh position and even if Kenseth wins he simply needs to finish 23rd or better to take his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series title.
Kevin Harvick, the third and final driver still mathematically eligible to win the championship will start from sixth. The Richard Childress Racing driver trails Johnson by 34 points.
Australia’s Marcos Ambrose will start from 23rd.
“We have struggled today and I think we got the best out of the car on that run,” said Ambrose.
“It’s been sliding around a bit, but we had the best lap possible during our qualifying run. I’m not disappointed in the effort and we’ll just keep getting the DEWALT Ford better for Sunday.”
The race will be over 267 laps mid Monday morning Australian time.
QUALIFYING: Ford EcoBoost 400 – Homestead-Miami Speedway
|
POS |
Car # |
Driver |
Make |
Sponsor |
MPH |
Time |
|
1 |
20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | Dollar General | 177.667 | 30.394 |
|
2 |
78 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Furniture Row/Denver Matress | 177.445 | –0.038 |
|
3 |
22 | Joey Logano | Ford | Shell Pennzoil | 177.282 | –0.066 |
|
4 |
2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | Miller Lite | 177.061 | –0.104 |
|
5 |
11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 176.846 | –0.141 |
|
6 |
29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 176.655 | –0.174 |
|
7 |
48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 176.598 | –0.184 |
|
8 |
56 | Martin Truex Jr | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 176.436 | –0.212 |
|
9 |
17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | FORD ECO BOOST | 176.436 | –0.212 |
|
10 |
55 | Elliott Sadler | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 176.413 | –0.216 |
|
11 |
18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 176.355 | –0.226 |
|
12 |
27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Menards / Moen | 176.355 | –0.226 |
|
13 |
5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 176.304 | –0.235 |
|
14 |
31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 175.747 | –0.332 |
|
15 |
39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans | 175.730 | –0.335 |
|
16 |
16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | No. 16 3M Fan Appreciation Ford | 175.690 | –0.342 |
|
17 |
21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 175.507 | –0.374 |
|
18 |
99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 175.433 | –0.387 |
|
19 |
43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield Foods | 175.376 | –0.397 |
|
20 |
51 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | Target | 175.353 | –0.401 |
|
21 |
88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | National Gaurd | 175.347 | –0.402 |
|
22 |
14 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 | 175.273 | –0.415 |
|
23 |
9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | DeWalt | 175.109 | –0.444 |
|
24 |
10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | GoDaddy- It’s Go Time | 175.092 | –0.447 |
|
25 |
15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-Hour Energy | 174.780 | –0.502 |
|
26 |
24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Axalta Coating Systems | 174.610 | –0.532 |
|
27 |
42 | Juan Pablo Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 174.537 | –0.545 |
|
28 |
1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 174.329 | –0.582 |
|
29 |
34 | David Ragan | Ford | Taco Bell | 174.317 | –0.584 |
|
30 |
30 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | Lean 1-Swan Energy | 173.171 | –0.789 |
|
31 |
38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 173.099 | –0.802 |
|
32 |
83 | David Reutimann | Toyota | VooDoo BBQ & Grill | 172.563 | –0.899 |
|
33 |
93 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King-Dr. Pepper | 172.287 | –0.949 |
|
34 |
98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Phil Parsons Racing | 172.260 | –0.954 |
|
35 |
35 | Josh Wise | Ford | MDS Transport | 172.046 | –0.993 |
|
36 |
47 | AJ Allmendinger | Toyota | Scott “Win My Car” | 171.734 | –1.050 |
|
37 |
36 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | United Mining Equipment | 171.717 | –1.053 |
|
38 |
7 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Florida Lottery | 170.891 | –1.205 |
|
39 |
33 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Little Joe’s Autos | 170.481 | –1.281 |
|
40 |
13 | Casey Mears | Ford | No. 13 GEICO Ford Fusion | 170.154 | –1.342 |
|
41 |
32 | Ken Schrader | Ford | Federated Auto Parts | 170.122 | –1.348 |
|
42 |
87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | Royal Teak Collection | 169.817 | –1.405 |
|
43 |
40 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | Hillman Racing | 167.183 | –1.906 |
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