Kasey Kahne, last year’s winner at Infineon Raceway literally flew to his second pole at 1.9 mile road course.
It was a wild ride around the “tough, slippery course,” Kasey Kahne said. When asked he about the wild lap he admitted “I might have jumped a curb. I jumped may have been a little aggressive.”
There were at least three wheels off the ground of his RPM Ford when he ran his pole winning lap, but how does a driver handle that? At least I had one of the four, but you just stay in the gas, I guess. That’s all you can do once you get to that point. My car was going pretty straight, so I just kind of stayed in it. They’re heavy cars, so they come down quick,” Kahne, said – laughing- following his 17th career pole.
Kahne’s 76.300 second (93.393mph) lap was only 68 thousandths of a second faster than Jimmie Johnson (76.368) who has not won here before. Jimmie Johnson, briefly, held the provisional pole.
Kurt Busch took third in a Dodge. “We were slipping around too much earlier today and couldn't get the car underneath me,” he said. “The Miller Lite guys made some great adjustments between practice and qualifying which really helped the car with forward bite. I didn't think that we were pole material, we were just shooting for a top-10 starting spot and nailed it.”
Series points leader, Kevin Harvick, was fourth, and Jeff Gordon was fifth. Marcos Ambrose, last year’s pole winner was the fastest Toyota in sixth place.
Denmark’s Jan Magnussen was 32nd in a Chevrolet while DTM driver, Mattias Ektsrom, of Sweden, was 38th in a Toyota.
“We made some good progress from the practice and then I made a few rookie mistakes. I lifted a little early on the start-finish because I wasn’t sure where they were going to wave me off so there was some confusion. We made good progress and I think we’ll be good for the race,” said Mattias Ekstrom who drives for Red Bull Audi in the DTM.
David Ragan spun during his qualifying lap, but, qualified on car owner’s points.
Brandon Ash, Brian Simo and Michael Waltrip failed to qualify.
It was a wild ride around the “tough, slippery course,” Kasey Kahne said. When asked he about the wild lap he admitted “I might have jumped a curb. I jumped may have been a little aggressive.”
There were at least three wheels off the ground of his RPM Ford when he ran his pole winning lap, but how does a driver handle that? At least I had one of the four, but you just stay in the gas, I guess. That’s all you can do once you get to that point. My car was going pretty straight, so I just kind of stayed in it. They’re heavy cars, so they come down quick,” Kahne, said – laughing- following his 17th career pole.
Kahne’s 76.300 second (93.393mph) lap was only 68 thousandths of a second faster than Jimmie Johnson (76.368) who has not won here before. Jimmie Johnson, briefly, held the provisional pole.
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| Kasey Kahne wins Coors light pole at Sonoma - photo nascar.com |
Kurt Busch took third in a Dodge. “We were slipping around too much earlier today and couldn't get the car underneath me,” he said. “The Miller Lite guys made some great adjustments between practice and qualifying which really helped the car with forward bite. I didn't think that we were pole material, we were just shooting for a top-10 starting spot and nailed it.”
Series points leader, Kevin Harvick, was fourth, and Jeff Gordon was fifth. Marcos Ambrose, last year’s pole winner was the fastest Toyota in sixth place.
Denmark’s Jan Magnussen was 32nd in a Chevrolet while DTM driver, Mattias Ektsrom, of Sweden, was 38th in a Toyota.
“We made some good progress from the practice and then I made a few rookie mistakes. I lifted a little early on the start-finish because I wasn’t sure where they were going to wave me off so there was some confusion. We made good progress and I think we’ll be good for the race,” said Mattias Ekstrom who drives for Red Bull Audi in the DTM.
David Ragan spun during his qualifying lap, but, qualified on car owner’s points.
Brandon Ash, Brian Simo and Michael Waltrip failed to qualify.