Matt Kenseth Takes the Pole at Homestead In Hopes of Taking the Championship From Jimmie Johnson

           With a time of 30.394 seconds (177.667 mph), Matt Kenseth blistered the field and took the pole at Homestead amid a battle with Jimmie Johnson and Kevin Harvick for the Sprint Cup title. Kenseth went out sixteenth and surpassed Kurt Busch for the provisional pole. Harvick and Johnson could not outdo Kenseth to help their chances for the title, but they still remain only a few positions away when the green flag will wave on Sunday. The pole was definitely a good momentum shift for Kenseth. After struggling at Phoenix and losing a lot of points to the championship leader Johnson, Kenseth rectified his mistakes with a pole and, hopefully for his title hopes, a car good enough for a win. Even with Kenseth starting on the pole, Jimmie Johnson looks to be in decent shape to win the title. He has to finish twenty third or better to be the champion and he will start seventh on Sunday. This puts him a good many spots ahead, but he will still have to dodge sure trouble throughout the event. The qualifying session really didn't have any crazy moments or wrecks, but it was still worth watching. All in all, the qualifying session was fairly basic, but it could very well decide who holds the championship trophy after a grueling four hundred miles on Sunday.

        Martin Truex Jr. was the first driver on the track. He was fastest in practice and he ran a qualifying lap similar to his practice time, but it would be interesting to see where he would end up. Truex held onto the provisional pole for a few drivers before Kurt Busch went out sixth and surpassed him. Busch looked to be in control as drivers behind him could not even come close to his laps, but Matt Kenseth went out sixteenth and bashed Busch's provisional pole speed. It was still early and a lot of good drivers were left. Kenseth went until driver number thirty with the provisional pole still in hand, but Kevin Harvick was next. Harvick ran extremely hard, but he fell just short of the pole. Three more drivers went out before Jimmie Johnson came on track to try and defeat Kenseth. Johnson ran hard and tried every line, but Kenseth was just too fast to overcome. Jeff Gordon and Denny Hamlin then failed after Johnson and only Kasey Kahne and Brad Keselowski remained with a legitimate shot. Kahne went out fortieth and he looked smooth, but he could not capitalize on a great car. Two drivers passed before Keselowski sailed on track last. He looked extremely smooth through turns 1 and 2 and he sailed down the backstretch. He had the advantage, but his car slid up the track in turns 3 and 4 and he lost all the momentum he had left. He could not surpass Kenseth and Kenseth had his third NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole of 2013. Kenseth has the highlight of the weekend thus far among the championship contenders, but can he take that momentum to a championship?

        Take a look at these statistics and see if one guy seems like the major threat for the title. Jimmie Johnson has an average finish of thirty fourth in the last two races at Homestead. Kevin Harvick has an an average finish of 7.9 in twelve races at Homestead, which is the best among all drivers. Matt Kenseth has a win at Homestead, but an average finish of 17.6. Jimmie Johnson has never lost a title when leading at the start of the final race and he leads the points now. Kevin Harvick has two wins at mile and a half tracks all ready this year and Homestead is a mile and a half track. Finally, Matt Kenseth has four wins at mile and a half tracks this year and Homestead is a mile and a half track. Do you know who has the advantage? I guess Johnson does in terms of points, but that average finish in the last two races is terrible. Let me tell you: do not think Johnson has automatically won this title. Crazy things have happened at Homestead before and they will definitely happen on Sunday. Also, Matt Kenseth would win the title if it came into a tiebreaker situation. Keep that in mind if Johnson happens to finish just on the cusp of twenty third place. All this leads me to believe that the battle for the 2013 Sprint Cup Championship is still on the line with only one race left. Boy, it is going to be a great finish to a great year.
(More Stats Down Below!)




Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Matt Kenseth      30.394 (177.667 mph)
2nd: Kurt Busch      30.432 (177.445 mph)
3rd: Joey Logano      30.460 (177.282 mph)
4th: Brad Keselowski       30.498 (177.061 mph)
5th: Denny Hamlin      30.535 (176.846 mph)

Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
6th: Kevin Harvick      30.568 (176.655 mph)
7th: Jimmie Johnson       30.578 (176.598 mph)
11th: Kyle Busch       30.620 (176.355 mph)
13th: Kasey Kahne       30.629 (176.304 mph)
15th: Ryan Newman       30.729 (175.730 mph)
16th: Greg Biffle       30.736 (175.690 mph)
18th: Carl Edwards      30.781 (175.433 mph)
21st: Dale Earnhardt Jr.      30.796 (175.347 mph)
25th: Clint Bowyer      30.896 (174.780 mph)
26th: Jeff Gordon         30.926 (174.610 mph)

DNQs: None





Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html#
http://racing-reference.info/getqualify/2013-36/W
-Image:
https://twitter.com/NASCAR/status/401510882821152768/photo/1