Greg Biffle poses with the pole award trophy after qualifying for pole position for Saturday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Charlotte. Photo by Rhonda McCole
Greg Biffle was cackling with laughter when he crossed the finish line Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway — and it wasn’t just because he set a track record in qualifying for Sunday’s Bank of America 500.
Biffle was enjoying the thrill of a pole-winning lap during which he said he scared himself more than once. Touring the 1.5-mile speedway in 27.877 seconds (193.708 mph), Biffle broke Elliott Sadler’s Oct. 13, 2005 mark of 27.948 seconds (193.216 mph).
The Coors Light pole award was Biffle’s third of the season, his first at Charlotte and the 12th of his career. He edged Mark Martin (193.361 mph) and Ryan Newman (193.251 mph) for the top starting spot, as all three drivers bettered the previous record.
“I was super excited about that lap, because I drove it farther into turn 1 than I thought would work,” Biffle said. “It hooked the bottom and stuck, and it was incredible . . . When (crew chief Matt Puccia) told me the lap time—I was sitting in my motor home earlier watching the broadcast—and I heard ’em say what the track record was.
“So I knew at that point it was a track record, so I was pretty excited about it. And I knew it was going to take a lot to beat it. These cars won’t go much faster than that, it was a perfect lap, and I hit all my marks just right on the button.”
Clint Bowyer (193.043 mph) qualified fourth, followed by five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Jimmie Johnson (192.995 mph). Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne will start the fifth race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup from positions six through 10, respectively.
Regan Smith, subbing for Dale Earnhardt Jr., qualified 26th for his first trip in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Earnhardt announced Thursday that he would be out of the car for at least two weeks because of a concussion.
Currently ninth in the Chase standings, 49 points behind leader Brad Keselowski, Biffle said his pole run was the shot in the arm his team needed.
“Oh, man, it feels so good,” Biffle said. “We’ve been working so hard, and we’ve kind of been down in the dumps a little bit, because we haven’t started out this Chase as strong as we’ve been all season . . . We’ve been to six race tracks in the last two weeks, between testing and everything we’ve been doing and racing.
“We got home last night from Texas, learned a little bit. It helped us here tonight, I think.”
Keselowski, who leads second-place Johnson by 14 points in the Chase standings, qualified 20th.
Martin was aware immediately that, on a cool night, his car had picked up speed from practice earlier in the day.
“I went down into turn 1, and I was just going so fast,” Martin said. “Everything was dragging, scraping, making noises, smoking, and I smelled rubber, so I said, ‘Man, we are rolling.'”
Joe Nemechek, Josh Wise, Scott Riggs and Cole Whitt failed to make the 43-car field.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Charlotte Motor Speedway – Concord, NC
Bank of America 500 Qualifying – Oct. 11, 2012
1 16 Greg Biffle 27.877 193.708
2 55 Mark Martin 27.927 193.361
3 39 Ryan Newman 27.943 193.251
4 15 Clint Bowyer 27.973 193.043
5 48 Jimmie Johnson 27.980 192.995
6 56 Martin Truex Jr. 27.991 192.919
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8 18 Kyle Busch 28.001 192.850
9 11 Denny Hamlin 28.008 192.802
10 5 Kasey Kahne 28.031 192.644
11 29 Kevin Harvick 28.032 192.637
12 20 Joey Logano 28.043 192.561
13 24 Jeff Gordon 28.094 192.212
14 22 Sam Hornish Jr. 28.174 191.666
15 47 Bobby Labonte 28.183 191.605
16 21 Trevor Bayne 28.229 191.293
17 43 Aric Almirola 28.230 191.286
18 9 Marcos Ambrose 28.231 191.279
19 99 Carl Edwards 28.236 191.245
20 2 Brad Keselowski 28.238 191.232
21 78 Kurt Busch 28.239 191.225
22 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 28.318 190.691
23 95 Scott Speed 28.318 190.691
24 27 Paul Menard 28.329 190.617
25 34 David Ragan 28.364 190.382
26 88 Regan Smith 28.394 190.181
27 13 Casey Mears 28.417 190.027
28 19 Mike Bliss 28.417 190.027
29 6 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 28.423 189.987
30 1 Jamie McMurray 28.441 189.867
31 30 David Stremme 28.468 189.687
32 14 Tony Stewart 28.483 189.587
33 98 Michael McDowell 28.483 189.587
34 10 David Reutimann 28.493 189.520
35 37 JJ Yeley 28.520 189.341
36 38 David Gilliland 28.533 189.255
37 83 Landon Cassill 28.546 189.168
38 51 AJ Allmendinger 28.550 189.142
39 31 Jeff Burton 28.652 188.469
40 32 Timmy Hill 28.689 188.225
41 93 Travis Kvapil Owner Points
42 36 Dave Blaney Owner Points
43 91 Reed Sorenson 28.556 189.102
Did Not Qualify: Joe Nemechek, Josh Wise, Scott Riggs, Cole Whitt
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