Jeff Gordon qualified on the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Photo by Robert Laberge/NASCAR via Getty Images
HOMESTEAD, FL—Jeff Gordon edged Kurt Busch for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, as three of the four contenders in the Championship Round of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup qualified in the top nine during Friday’s time trials.
In the third and final round of the knockout qualifying session, Gordon covered the 1.5-mile distance in 29.876 seconds (180.747 mph), narrowly beating Busch (29.895 seconds/180.632 mph) for the top spot on the grid.
Championship favorite Kevin Harvick (179.946 mph) will start fifth, with fellow contenders Denny Hamlin (179.348 mph) and Joey Logano (179.259 mph) eighth and ninth, respectively. Ryan Newman (178.241 mph), the fourth driver eligible for the championship, failed to advance to the final round and will start 21st.
Matt Kenseth (180.294 mph) and Brad Keselowski (179.994 mph), both eliminated from the Chase last Sunday at Phoenix, qualified third and fourth, respectively, for the Sprint Cup title race.
In the 25-minute first qualifying round, Keselowski set a track record at 181.238 mph (29.795 mph), breaking the mark of 181.111 mph established by Jamie McMurray in 2003. No driver has won a Sprint Cup race at Homestead from the pole since Busch accomplished the feat in 2002.
Gordon, eliminated from the Chase by one point last Sunday, moved toward the top of the track for his Coors Light Pole Award-winning run.
“The bottom just wasn’t the perfect place for us to run,” Gordon explained. “I could feel the tires going away, and then we needed to move up. So when we saw some of those guys running fast laps a little bit higher up, I was looking forward to making that last lap.
“The guys made some great adjustments. We unfortunately had a tire going down on the left front, so I don’t know if that helped us or hurt us, but it was pretty nice to get that pole. That’s awesome.”
Gordon’s Coors Light Pole Award—his first at Homestead, his third of the season and the 77th of his career—also was the 200th for Hendrick Motorsports.
“To be the 200th pole for Hendrick Motorsports is really cool,” Gordon said. “I think the way we’re looking at this weekend is we want to close out the season the absolute best we can. It’s been a tremendous season. The No. 24 team has been incredible this year.
“We’re disappointed that we aren’t in this thing for the championship, but that’s not going to stop us from trying to go out to win the pole and win the race.”
For Harvick, the most gratifying thing about Friday’s qualifying session was beating the three other championship contenders—not to mention earning a top-five starting position.
“This is going to be a race that you are going to go through some changing conditions,” Harvick said. “Today was really about trying to get a solid starting spot. And we were able to do that.
“Just really proud of my guys. We had a really good day today. Just got to keep doing what we have to do and see where it all falls on Sunday.”
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 400 Qualifying – Nov. 14, 2014
1. Jeff Gordon – 180.747 mph
2. Kurt Busch – 180.632
3. Matt Kenseth – 180.294
4. Brad Keselowski – 179.994
5. Kevin Harvick – 179.946
6. Clint Bowyer – 179.593
Avoid foods such as nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, levitra 20mg http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/12/12/a-day-with-robert-schumann/ junk foods, canned foods, etc. You cannot take more than 100 mg or else you will suffer from different ordine cialis on line problems. Hormonal problems: Dysfunction of Follicle Stimulating Hormone (FSH) and levitra 20 mg http://deeprootsmag.org/2015/01/12/condemned-live-1935/ the Luteinizing Hormone (LH). levitra prescription Male impotence is an ordinary part of aging. 7. Kyle Busch – 179.48
8. Denny Hamlin – 179.348
9. Joey Logano – 179.259
10. Martin Truex, Jr. – 179.069
11. Dale Earnhardt, Jr. – 178.336
12. Jimmie Johnson – 176.684
13. Brian Vickers – 179.004
14. Justin Allgaier – 178.938
15. Carl Edwards – 178.802
16. Paul Menard – 178.796
17. Marcos Ambrose – 178.778
18. Aric Almirola – 178.601
19. Jamie McMurray – 178.601
20. Greg Biffle – 178.477
21. Ryan Newman – 178.241
22. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. – 177.959
23. Kasey Kahne – 177.778
24. Austin Dillon – 177.678
25. A.J. Allmendinger – 178.23
26. Trevor Bayne – 178.136
27. Kyle Larson – 178.13
28. Tony Stewart – 178.024
29. Casey Mears – 177.69
30. Brian Scott – 177.189
31. David Ragan – 177.113
32. Danica Patrick – 177.072
33. Landon Cassill – 176.344
34. J.J. Yeley – 176.304
35. David Gilliland – 176.056
36. Reed Sorenson – 175.638
37. Josh Wise – Owner Points
38. Michael McDowell – Owner Points
39. Michael Annett – Owner Points
40. Blake Koch – Owner Points
41. Alex Bowman – Owner Points
42. Cole Whitt – Owner Points
43. Brett Moffitt – Owner Points
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