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.