Fords have been less than impressive this season. Several Ford drivers have recently commented on the lack of performance. If there is one track that Ford seems to always run well at, it is Michigan International Speedway. Today was no exception. Edwards posted a fast lap of 202.452 mph to grab the 12th pole of his career. Edwards lap was a full tenth of a second over second place qualifier Kurt Busch. Edwards earned his first career victory at the two mile speedway, a race which was also Roush-Fenway Racing’s last victory at the track.
Joining Edwards in the top ten were fellow Ford drivers, Aric Almirola and Joey Logano who qualified fifth and sixth respectively. Running well at Michigan has always been a sense of pride for manufacturers, as MIS is in the backyard of their corporate headquarters.
Kurt Busch continues to impress with another solid qualifying effort. Busch will start second on Sunday in his Furniture Row Chevrolet. In the media center after qualifying, Busch said, “It was a great lap, it’s amazing how close it comes down to after a two mile run.” Busch also credited his team association with Richard Childress Racing as playing a big part of their recent success. He also pointed out that the 78 team gives a lot of valuable information back to RCR and that the association is a two way street. He also commented that RCR considers his team a fourth team car.
Kasey Kahne who led first practice posted a solid third place effort, the only Hendrick Motorsports driver in the top ten. Paul Menard, Kurt Busch’s “pseudo-teammate”, who is having the best season of his career will start fourth on Sunday. When asked if his lap was helped by cloud cover, Menard said, “It always helps when you have a little shade for sure. We had a really good car in practice; we just never could really get a clean lap to show it.” Rookie driver, Austin Dillon, also from the RCR camp, will start seventh. Dillon commented after qualifying, “I had to check up off of (turn) two, but really proud of that lap.”
Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch led the Toyota camp and will start eighth and ninth Sunday. TRD, who builds engines for Joe Gibb Racing, recently dialed back horsepower in an attempt to help durability. The lower horsepower seems to be evident, as Toyotas have been very dominant in qualifying this season, but have been a little off since the change in the engine department.
The Quicken Loans 400 will go green Sunday at 1:00 pm local time and will be televised on TNT.
