bigbadbrother
06-28-2014, 06:55 PM
The Penske boys are at it again.
Brad Keselowski blistered the field with a track record lap of 188.791 miles per hour to win the pole for Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano clocked in right behind at 187.175 mph, good enough for second place and a Team Penske sweep of the front row.
For Keselowski, the 2012 champion, it was his third pole of the season, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most this season, and the sixth of his career in 178 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. Earlier in the day, Keselowski also won the pole for Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
"We're right where we want to be, starting first is a great start but it's just that it's just a start," said Keselowski. "You still have to execute a race and by no means a guarantee of a win, so we'll want to go out there and earn that Saturday and even tonight. But we're right where we want to be in that sense, so we'll keep pushing forward and I'm just taking a second to reflect on the efforts of our team and how proud I am of that and without them we couldn't be here."
Sliced Bread: Joey Logano hungry for another bite of Kentucky Speedway
In 17 Sprint Cup races so far in 2014, Keselowski has qualified on the front row nine times. With Logano on Row 1 five times, the Penske Fords rate as the unquestioned class of the field on Fridays.
"We've had some speed here in practice and felt like we were a top five car in practice and I feel like we'll be better than that in the race, and then obviously in qualifying we weren't dominant in qualifying practice, but in qualifying here today we had a good car," said Logano. "Brad found some magic there the last run and found a couple tenths on me, but that was a really good lap we ran for sure."
Jeff Gordon qualified third in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Denny Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick completing the top five. Harvick's teammate Danica Patrick was 10th, the fifth time she's qualified in the top 10 this season.
Gordon struggled early but quickly found the handle. "Oh my gosh you never want to be satisfied unless you are on the pole or in Victory Lane, but this sort of feels like a victory for me," he said.
Hamlin, the fourth-place qualifier, was also encouraged by his performance. "We're getting better," said Hamlin. "Fourth is a little better than I expected to qualify, but we think we have a top-five car for the race. Looking forward to tomorrow."
Bumpy Kentucky track is doing Jeff Gordon's tender back no favors
A total of 23 drivers broke the old track record of 183.636 mph, set last year by Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was the 12th time this season that a track qualifying record was broken.
There were three rounds of qualifying, with hot, steamy temperatures at the track and rain in the area. In the first round, drivers initially stayed on pit road, waiting for cloud cover to reach the track and increase grip and, in turn, increase speeds. David Stremme was the only driver to go out in the first six minutes of Round 1.
The big surprise was that Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (25th ) and Earnhardt (29th) failed to advance out of Round 1.
"We couldn't get out of our own way in Q-trim," Johnson said of his qualifying run. It was only the third time this season that Johnson failed to get out of Round 1.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, said he was not surprised that he didn't advance. "We were slow in practice and have been fighting the car all day," said Earnhardt. "… We had a really rough go of it."
Pos Driver Car # Make Qual. Speed
1 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 188.791
2 Joey Logano 22 Ford 187.175
3 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 186.832
4 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 186.374
5 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 186.104
6 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 186.034
7 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 186.014
8 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 185.957
9 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 185.950
10 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 185.803
11 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 185.414
12 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 185.096
13 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 185.854
14 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 185.714
15 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 185.503
16 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 185.344
17 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 185.096
18 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 185.052
19 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 184.761
20 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 184.464
21 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 184.307
22 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 184.300
23 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 184.106
24 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 183.138
25 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 183.661
26 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 183.424
27 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 183.163
28 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 182.815
29 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 182.803
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 182.778
31 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 181.916
32 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 181.464
33 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 181.287
34 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 181.196
35 Travis Kvapil 32 Ford 180.421
36 David Ragan 34 Ford 179.700
37 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 179.348
38 David Stremme 33 Chevrolet 178.672
39 Ryan Truex 83 Toyota 178.406
40 Joe Nemechek 66 Toyota 178.065
41 David Gilliland 38 Ford 176.800
42 Mike Bliss 93 Toyota 171.385
Brad Keselowski blistered the field with a track record lap of 188.791 miles per hour to win the pole for Saturday night's Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway. Keselowski's teammate Joey Logano clocked in right behind at 187.175 mph, good enough for second place and a Team Penske sweep of the front row.
For Keselowski, the 2012 champion, it was his third pole of the season, tying him with Kevin Harvick for the most this season, and the sixth of his career in 178 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts. Earlier in the day, Keselowski also won the pole for Friday night's NASCAR Nationwide Series race.
"We're right where we want to be, starting first is a great start but it's just that it's just a start," said Keselowski. "You still have to execute a race and by no means a guarantee of a win, so we'll want to go out there and earn that Saturday and even tonight. But we're right where we want to be in that sense, so we'll keep pushing forward and I'm just taking a second to reflect on the efforts of our team and how proud I am of that and without them we couldn't be here."
Sliced Bread: Joey Logano hungry for another bite of Kentucky Speedway
In 17 Sprint Cup races so far in 2014, Keselowski has qualified on the front row nine times. With Logano on Row 1 five times, the Penske Fords rate as the unquestioned class of the field on Fridays.
"We've had some speed here in practice and felt like we were a top five car in practice and I feel like we'll be better than that in the race, and then obviously in qualifying we weren't dominant in qualifying practice, but in qualifying here today we had a good car," said Logano. "Brad found some magic there the last run and found a couple tenths on me, but that was a really good lap we ran for sure."
Jeff Gordon qualified third in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, with Denny Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick completing the top five. Harvick's teammate Danica Patrick was 10th, the fifth time she's qualified in the top 10 this season.
Gordon struggled early but quickly found the handle. "Oh my gosh you never want to be satisfied unless you are on the pole or in Victory Lane, but this sort of feels like a victory for me," he said.
Hamlin, the fourth-place qualifier, was also encouraged by his performance. "We're getting better," said Hamlin. "Fourth is a little better than I expected to qualify, but we think we have a top-five car for the race. Looking forward to tomorrow."
Bumpy Kentucky track is doing Jeff Gordon's tender back no favors
A total of 23 drivers broke the old track record of 183.636 mph, set last year by Dale Earnhardt Jr. It was the 12th time this season that a track qualifying record was broken.
There were three rounds of qualifying, with hot, steamy temperatures at the track and rain in the area. In the first round, drivers initially stayed on pit road, waiting for cloud cover to reach the track and increase grip and, in turn, increase speeds. David Stremme was the only driver to go out in the first six minutes of Round 1.
The big surprise was that Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (25th ) and Earnhardt (29th) failed to advance out of Round 1.
"We couldn't get out of our own way in Q-trim," Johnson said of his qualifying run. It was only the third time this season that Johnson failed to get out of Round 1.
Earnhardt, meanwhile, said he was not surprised that he didn't advance. "We were slow in practice and have been fighting the car all day," said Earnhardt. "… We had a really rough go of it."
Pos Driver Car # Make Qual. Speed
1 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford 188.791
2 Joey Logano 22 Ford 187.175
3 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet 186.832
4 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota 186.374
5 Kevin Harvick 4 Chevrolet 186.104
6 Kyle Larson 42 Chevrolet 186.034
7 Ryan Newman 31 Chevrolet 186.014
8 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet 185.957
9 Kurt Busch 41 Chevrolet 185.950
10 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet 185.803
11 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota 185.414
12 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet 185.096
13 Tony Stewart 14 Chevrolet 185.854
14 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota 185.714
15 AJ Allmendinger 47 Chevrolet 185.503
16 Austin Dillon 3 Chevrolet 185.344
17 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota 185.096
18 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota 185.052
19 Martin Truex Jr. 78 Chevrolet 184.761
20 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet 184.464
21 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 17 Ford 184.307
22 Aric Almirola 43 Ford 184.300
23 Carl Edwards 99 Ford 184.106
24 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 183.138
25 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet 183.661
26 Casey Mears 13 Chevrolet 183.424
27 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford 183.163
28 Justin Allgaier 51 Chevrolet 182.815
29 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 88 Chevrolet 182.803
30 Cole Whitt 26 Toyota 182.778
31 Reed Sorenson 36 Chevrolet 181.916
32 Michael Annett 7 Chevrolet 181.464
33 Alex Bowman 23 Toyota 181.287
34 Josh Wise 98 Chevrolet 181.196
35 Travis Kvapil 32 Ford 180.421
36 David Ragan 34 Ford 179.700
37 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet 179.348
38 David Stremme 33 Chevrolet 178.672
39 Ryan Truex 83 Toyota 178.406
40 Joe Nemechek 66 Toyota 178.065
41 David Gilliland 38 Ford 176.800
42 Mike Bliss 93 Toyota 171.385