Kahne captures the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 pole at Talladega

[media-credit id=100 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Hendrick Motorsports driver, Kasey Kahne turns the fast lap of 191.455 mph, to edge out Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) driver Ryan Newman by only .061 sec. to score the pole for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500. This was Kahne’s third pole of the season.

“It was a great way to start the weekend. We had a good car yesterday in practice, felt good in the draft, felt good around Jeff Gordon, we were pushing each other and stuff. Things are good so far. It would be great to start first; I have never qualified first at one of these tracks.” Kahne said just after turning the lap.

This is the 32-year-old driver’s first career pole award at Talladega Superspeedway and first at any restrictor plate track.

“It’s my first pole at this track and at this type of a race track so it feels pretty good. We have tried for a long time to win one here and this shows how awesome that car is thanks to Hendrickcars.com and Chevrolet and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports we have some fast cars this weekend.” Kahne said.

Kahne comes into the race sixth in points, 32 points behind leader Brad Keselowski who will start 22nd on Sunday.

Chase contenders Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, and Greg Biffle round out the top five.

“I’m blown away, shocked that we were top-three. Very, very proud of (Brian) Pattie (crew chief) and everybody on our 5-hour ENERGY Toyota with the support of the Avon Foundation and everything we’ve got going on. We haven’t been qualifying very good on these restrictor-plate tracks and today it caught me off guard.” Bowyer said of his qualifying run.

Chase contender Jeff Gordon just missed the top five and will start sixth.

“It was a solid lap and effort. This team always does such an amazing job in coming to the restrictor plate tracks. Obviously, being on the pole last time we were here we were hoping to be there again, but this late draw and the wind you just can’t ever tell what is going to happen. We didn’t get the pole, but it’s still up there where we need to be.” Gordon said.

Travis Kvapil, who led the first practice session and one of only two drivers to break the 200 mph mark, will start 36th. A team member confirmed that the No.93 BK Racing Burger King car wasn’t good by itself, but runs well in the draft.

Other notables – Matt Kenseth starts 15th, Jimmie Johnson will start 17th, Kevin Harvick will take the green in 21st.

“I was just real disappointed in the speed. Honestly, you don’t know if you run a 49-flat or 51-flat, you can’t tell in qualifying, but I was just disappointed in the speed.” Kenseth said.

Starting Lineup
Good Sam 500, Talladega Superspeedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/qual.php?race=30
===========================================
Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time
===========================================
1 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 191.455 50.017
2 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 191.145 50.098
3 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 191.119 50.105
4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 190.993 50.138
5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 190.955 50.148
6 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 190.848 50.176
7 99 Carl Edwards Ford 190.784 50.193
8 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 190.727 50.208
9 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 190.662 50.225
10 22 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 190.628 50.234
11 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 190.465 50.277
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 190.427 50.287
13 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 190.419 50.289
14 20 Joey Logano Toyota 190.393 50.296
15 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 190.37 50.302
16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 190.332 50.312
17 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 190.298 50.321
18 43 Aric Almirola Ford 190.298 50.321
19 13 Casey Mears Ford 190.177 50.353
20 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 190.17 50.355
21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 190.113 50.37
22 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 189.778 50.459
23 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 189.748 50.467
24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 189.74 50.469
25 34 David Ragan Ford 189.616 50.502
26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 189.552 50.519
27 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 189.38 50.565
28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 189.316 50.582
29 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 189.025 50.66
30 30 David Stremme Toyota 188.947 50.681
31 32 Terry Labonte Ford 188.794 50.722
32 38 David Gilliland Ford 188.727 50.74
33 26 Josh Wise* Ford 188.649 50.761
34 98 Michael McDowell Ford 188.638 50.764
35 97 Timmy Hill Toyota 188.326 50.848
36 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 188.296 50.856
37 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 188.001 50.936
38 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 187.986 50.94
39 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 187.46 51.083
40 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 186.991 51.211
41 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 186.783 51.268
42 33 Cole Whitt Chevrolet 186.289 51.404
43 23 Robert Richardson Jr. Chevrolet 185.942 51.5

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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