Points leader Greg Biffle has continued his strong start to the 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup season by scoring pole position at Bristol.
The Roush Ford driver edged out A.J. Allmendinger’s Penske Dodge by 0.001s, while the Chevrolets of Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon will share the second row.
“It was a huge thrill ride,” said Biffle of his lap around the 0.533-mile bullring.
“The key is to not overdrive it and as soon as the car turns in the corner you have to get back to the throttle.
“I went back to the gas fairly early and was a little worried about it making the rest of the corner.
“It got loose up off both ends because I went to the gas so early in the middle of the corner.
“I was just pushing the envelope as much as I could. If you ask me to do it again I probably can’t. I was on the edge and like I said, one one thousandth of a second I beat the 22 car. That is not a lot.”
Brad Keselowski, Regan Smith, Aric Almirola, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top 10, with Australia’s Marcos Ambrose in 12th.
See below for the full session result
|
POS |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
TIME |
BEHIND |
| 1 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / 811 | 15.324 | Leader |
| 2 | A.J. Allmendinger | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 15.325 | -0.001 |
| 3 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans | 15.331 | -0.007 |
| 4 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 15.340 | -0.016 |
| 5 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 15.367 | -0.043 |
| 6 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 15.373 | -0.049 |
| 7 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Charter Comm. | 15.385 | -0.061 |
| 8 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Cheez-It | 15.389 | -0.065 |
| 9 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 15.392 | -0.068 |
| 10 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 15.430 | -0.106 |
| 11 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Moen / Menards | 15.432 | -0.108 |
| 12 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Mac Tools | 15.433 | -0.109 |
| 13 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Wrigley | 15.452 | -0.128 |
| 14 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 15.461 | -0.137 |
| 15 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 15.461 | -0.137 |
| 16 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-hour Energy | 15.474 | -0.150 |
| 17 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 15.480 | -0.156 |
| 18 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard | 15.491 | -0.167 |
| 19 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | Tradebank | 15.491 | -0.167 |
| 20 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 15.495 | -0.171 |
| 21 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 15.516 | -0.192 |
| 22 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools | 15.532 | -0.208 |
| 23 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 15.541 | -0.217 |
| 24 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 15.547 | -0.223 |
| 25 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 15.547 | -0.223 |
| 26 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 15.566 | -0.242 |
| 27 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | HendrickCars.com | 15.577 | -0.253 |
| 28 | David Stremme | Toyota | Food Country USA | 15.589 | -0.265 |
| 29 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 15.594 | -0.270 |
| 30 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 15.601 | -0.277 |
| 31 | David Ragan | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 15.604 | -0.280 |
| 32 | Brendan Gaughan | Chevrolet | South Point Hotel & Casino | 15.617 | -0.293 |
| 33 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | BB&T | 15.628 | -0.304 |
| 34 | Travis Kvapil | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 15.638 | -0.314 |
| 35 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | SealWrap / Widow Wax | 15.646 | -0.322 |
| 36 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Clorox / Scott Products | 15.648 | -0.324 |
| 37 | Josh Wise* | Ford | Morristown Driver’s Service | 15.679 | -0.355 |
| 38 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | Turn One Racing | 15.691 | -0.367 |
| 39 | Michael McDowell | Ford | K-Love “Let it start with me” | 15.732 | -0.408 |
| 40 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | JPO Absorbents | 15.750 | -0.426 |
| 41 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com | 15.765 | -0.441 |
| 42 | Ken Schrader+ | Ford | TMone “We Drive Sales” | 15.907 | -0.583 |
| 43 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | North Texas Pipe | 15.809 | -0.485 |
| 44 | Timmy Hill* | Ford | Poynt.com | 15.953 | -0.629 |
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