Denny Hamlin was the first driver on the track. Usually, this is a terrible thing for a driver to have to face, but Hamlin and the other drivers going out early received a break. A cloud covered the track just as Hamlin went out for his run and allowed him to run a pretty quick lap. Kurt Busch would get the same cloud when he went out fifth and he took the advantage to a provisional pole lap. Busch's lap also tied the track record set earlier this year by Matt Kenseth. It seemed like the laps would get much faster as the session went on, but Busch still held the provisional pole after thirty drivers had went on the track. Jeff Gordon went out thirty third and proved their was still speed on the track. Gordon blistered the track record and took the provisional pole. It looked like Gordon had the pole locked up, but there were still eleven drivers to go out. Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano, and Matt Kenseth gave good runs at Gordon, but they could not best his track record lap. Gordon walked away with a very meaningful pole as he has to fight for his Chase spot later on this evening.
Once again, Jeff Gordon has had a very mediocre season. He had a chance to win at Pocono in August, but he couldn't capture it. Now, that win would mean so much to him as he sits in eleventh place and without a win. Tonight could be the key for Gordon to get in the top 10, but Kurt Busch, who is in tenth place going into the race, will start on his outside. To add to that, Brad Keselowski, who is in fifteenth and needs a win to make the Chase, will start third. The two wild card holders, Martin Truex Jr. and Kasey Kahne, will start eleventh and eighteenth place, respectively. Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Dale Earnhardt Jr., the other three drivers looking to clinch a top 10 spot, are starting eighth, ninth, and fourteenth, respectively. To finish it all off, Ryan Newman, the other one win driver looking for a wild card, will start twenty fourth. These starting positions may not mean much at the start of the race, but when the race is finished, we will look back at these numbers and see why the drivers were able to make the Chase. The final regular season race should be one for the books on the year and I hope you guys can watch it.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Jeff Gordon 20.674 (130.599 mph)
2nd: Kurt Busch 20.716 (130.334 mph)
3rd: Brad Keselowski 20.744 (130.158 mph)
4th: Clint Bowyer 20.766 (130.020 mph)
5th: Matt Kenseth 20.791 (129.864 mph)
Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
10th: Regan Smith 20.884 (129.286 mph)*
11th: Martin Truex Jr. 20.894 (129.224 mph)
13th: Kyle Busch 20.911 (129.119 mph)
14th: Dale Earnhardt Jr. 20.919 (129.069 mph)
17th: Kevin Harvick 20.931 (128.995 mph)
18th: Kasey Kahne 20.939 (128.946 mph)
24th: Ryan Newman 21.031 (128.382 mph)
26th: Carl Edwards 21.046 (128.290 mph)
36th: Danica Patrick 21.212 (127.286 mph)
(*: Regan Smith replaced Jimmie Johnson in practice and qualifying after Johnson's second child was born. Johnson will be in the race, but he will have to start at the back.)
Provisional Starters (With Times):
37th: David Gilliland 21.218 (127.250 mph)
38th: Ryan Truex 21.244 (127.095 mph)
39th: Reed Sorenson 21.322 (126.630 mph)
40th: Dave Blaney 21.361 (126.399 mph)
41st: Tony Raines 21.405 (126.139 mph)
42nd: Ken Schrader 21.450 (125.874 mph)
43rd: J.J. Yeley 21.467 (125.774 mph)
DNQ (With Time):
44th: Mike Bliss 21.225 (127.208 mph)
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
http://racing-reference.info/getqualify/2013-26/W
-Image:
http://l2.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/ggTgUIIXNmiCDQ.Cj08ZNQ--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/sptusnascarmarbles/d0906jg.jpg
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