Denny Hamlin’s Championship offensive jumped off with a pole at Martinsville.
Since the Virginia native won the last two races at the paper-clip-shaped short oval, his team concentrated on qualifying and it paid off with a pole winning lap of 97.018 mph. “I feel like we have a good baseline setup for here, obviously, so we decided today that we were just going to focus on qualifying knowing that the corner pit stall is very, very, critical here at Martinsville. I love it when a plan comes together.” It was his second pole of the year and 9th in his career. Jimmie Johnson, looking for his fifth straight championship has his work cut out for him as he qualified 19th. He has a 41-point lead over Hamlin. Kevin Harvick, third in the points, with five races remaining, will start 36th. Now, Hamlin will focus on the race, knowing it won’t be that easy. He said: “Odds are that the 48 (Jimmie Johnson) and the 29 (Kevin Harvick) aren't going to stay where they are at so that gap is going to close. All we can do is try to win. I feel like it’s going to be much easier coming from first.” Meanwhile, Marcos Ambrose had career-best second in qualifying. “I’m excited to be on the front row and I’m going to try to stay there as long as I can. There haven’t been as many opportunities as I would like to be at the front of the field so I’m going to try to take advantage of it,” the Aussie said. Greg Biffle was third followed by Ryan Newman and Juan Pablo Montoya. Kasey Kahne, making his debut for Red Bull Racing will start 33rd, barely out-qualifying Aric Almirola who took over Kahne’s former #9 Ford. Michael McDowell, Robby Gordon, Terry Cook and Johnny Sauter failed to make the 43-car grid.
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