Kurt Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award with a qualifying lap of 181.918 mph. His time set the track record previously held by Kasey Kahne in 2011 with a lap speed of 181.254. It is his 16th pole in 446 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
This is Busch’s second pole in 17 years at Darlington Raceway. In September 2001 he won the pole and became the youngest pole winner at the legendary track. He was 23 years and 29 days old at the time.
Jimmie Johnson qualified second giving him his seventh top-10 start in 2013. In 15 races at Darlington Raceway, Johnson has scored eight top-10 starts. That number includes his 2012 win which gave Hendrick Motorsports its 200th NASCAR Sprint Cup victory.
Kyle Busch will begin the race from the third position. This is Busch’s fourth top-10 start at Darlington Raceway and his eighth top-10 start this season.
Kasey Kahne and Martin Truex Jr. will start the race in positions four and five, respectively. Denny Hamlin qualified in sixth place and will compete in his first full race since March.
Please visit nascar.com for the complete starting line-up. http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/standings/results/2013/bojangles-southern-500.html
NASCAR pre-race action starts at 6 p.m. on Fox for the 64th annual Bojangles’ Southern 500 on Saturday, May 11th. The green flag is scheduled to drop at approximately 7 p.m. The drivers will once again race under the lights for 501.3 miles (367 laps) to determine who will tame the ‘Lady in Black.’
