Kyle Busch wins pole at Charlotte

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch captured the pole for Saturday's Bank of America 500 on a record-breaking night of qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Thursday night that saw the fastest lap on a mile-and-a-half track in NASCAR history.

Busch stood atop the leaderboard at the end of the third round of knockout qualifying with a lap of 197.390 mph to notch his third pole of the season, coming just one week after he posted his first top-five finish in the Chase for the Sprint Cup and his best finish since coming home second in the Brickyard 400 in August.

Jeff Gordon was second with a lap of 197.217mph, followed by Denny Hamlin (197.087), Tony Stewart (196.542) and Ryan Newman (196.442)

With the Chase entering the halfway point at Charlotte this weekend, Busch and his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin find themselves both in the top five in points, with the third JGR entry of Matt Kenseth sitting seventh in the standings.

"We're edging our way towards the top," said Busch of JGR's surge. "It certainly feels good that we're heading in the right direction at the right time of the year.

"We certainly have been fighting really hard at Joe Gibbs Racing to get ourselves up to running with the level of competition that we've been seeing from our competitors. Anything can happen, and there was a few bad races for a few guys last race in Kansas and for us now it's just about trying to come out of here with a solid finish at Charlotte and put ourselves in the best position possible."

If the speeds in earlier practice sessions didn't set the tone for Thursday's qualifying sessions, the first round of knockout qualifying certainly did as Kasey Kahne set the early pace by shattering the track record with a lap of 197.976 mph to lead the opening round, topping the previous mark of 195.624 mph set by Hamlin in May of 2013. In all, 22 of the 24 drivers to advance were under the previous track record.

With the gauntlet laid down, the top 24 moved onto the second round where Kurt Busch rocketed to the top of the leaderboard with a jaw-dropping lap of 198.771 mph, marking the fastest qualifying lap ever at a mile-and-a-half track – besting the previous mark of 198.282 mph posted this past April by Kevin Harvick at Texas Motor Speedway.

For the third and final round, the top 12 drivers to advance began qualifying with a clean slate, but lap speeds were far below what was seen in the second round, with Kyle Busch setting the bar early with a lap more than a mile an hour slower than record-breaking lap set by Kurt Busch, who ultimately ended the night qualifying 11th.

Harvick, who finished second in each of the first two rounds, qualified seventh. Other Chase contenders in the third round included Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (ninth) and Carl Edwards (tenth).

Among the drivers who failed to advance to the third round was Kahne – who lost the pole and the track record – as well as Chase contenders Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski, all of whom are at the bottom of the Chase standings after disastrous finishes last weekend at Kansas Speedway.

"We've been off a little bit in qualifying trim since we've been here, but I thought our race trim was really good in practice and that's the most important thing so we'll keep working," said Keselowski, who will start 17th on Saturday. "There have been races where we started up front and not finished up front and there's races where we start towards the back and raced to the front. It ebbs and flows. Everything that goes down will come back up and you just have to ride it while you can."

Johnson, who has won this race three times including two in a row in 2004 and 2005, will roll off 21st – his first start outside the top ten at Charlotte since 2007.

"Just didn't have the speed there on that final run," said Johnson. "I thought we had some hope after the first round and our second outing we ran a very good lap. But just didn't have any more there on that lap through Turns 3 and 4.

"It's disappointing. There's no way around it."

Trevor Bayne was the lone non-qualifier attempting his first start of the year driving the no. 6 Ford for Roush-Fenway Racing.

Quotes

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Doublemint Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Starting Position: 1st

How strong was the car in qualifying?
"It seemed like the guy that was the most consistent was able to win the pole tonight. I think we had a .38 then a .33 and then a .36 so pretty good laps there. I felt pretty good about all of them and Dave (Rogers, crew chief) made some really good adjustments this time — you have to adjust on these things for these qualifying runs. The track changes just a little bit, but the car and the tires change too. I can't say enough about these guys — everyone on this Doublemint Camry here this weekend. It feels good already and we tested here a few weeks ago and I was really happy with the test. We unloaded today and not so happy about it — just Charlotte. It will be different again tomorrow, you can certainly chalk that up for sure. We'll see how this weekend goes and hopefully we can come out of here with a solid weekend and out ourselves in the right spot for continuing on in our Chase here."

What will the team need to work on to make the car better in practice?
"More grip, faster — that's all it's got to be. It's as simple as that, but it's certainly a lot harder trying to work on it and make it that way. Again, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) — thank those guys and everyone at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). Awesome cars coming out of there right now. We're working on it and we are getting better. I've been saying that if we get one piece of the puzzle each week at a time and we're going to be hard to beat. We'll see if we've got it all. This is early in the weekend and looks good right now, but still 500 miles to race here Saturday night."

How much momentum do you have heading into Saturday night's race?
"So far we're carrying our momentum through the Chase here so it feels pretty good. It started at Chicago and Loudon and Dover — top-10s in each of those places and Kansas coming home with a top-five and here to Charlotte, one of my favorite places. To come out of here early in the weekend and be on top of the sheets, that feels good. We always want to be there, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of smarts by all these guys on my team. The Doublemint Camry was awesome today and didn't unload as good as we wanted to, but right there when it mattered most we were pretty good. Excited about that and ready to go for a couple practices tomorrow and get ready for Saturday night."

What would it mean to win Saturday and move on in the Chase?
"It would be perfect. We would love to have that happen for us and for this team — for Joe Gibbs Racing, for Toyota and put all of us through and not have to worry about Talladega. First things first, you concentrate on having a good race and running a smart 500 miles here and get yourself in the top-10. If you do that, you shoot for a top-five, you do that and then you see if you can race those guys for a win and try to punch that ticket through."

Is Joe Gibbs Racing a contender for this championship now?
"With the way the eliminations are, yes I would believe we're edging our way towards the top. Anything can happen in this game. I believe it's a fickle business so you just have to pick through it all and 500 miles here at Charlotte, we hope to have a good race here. We have had good races here in the past and first things first, you shoot for top-10 and then you shoot for top-five and if you're in position you try to go after that victory and punch your ticket right on through and get yourself automatically into the eliminator round. That would certainly feel good for everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), everyone on this Doublemint, M&M's, Snickers Camry and Interstate Batteries as well too. You have to take things one step at a time and right now it's about practice tomorrow."

Would you believe earlier this season that your team would be this high in the Chase standings?
"I don't think we would have. We certainly have been fighting really hard at Joe Gibbs Racing to get ourselves up to running with the level of competition that we've been seeing from our competitors. The Penske guys and a couple of the Hendrick cars — it hasn't been the whole company. The 24 (Jeff Gordon) and the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and the 22 (Joey Logano) have really been the cars to beat this year. Looking at those four you automatically punch those four all the way through to the end and those are the guys that are going to be racing for the championship. Anything happens and there was a few bad races for a few guys last race in Kansas and for us now it's just about trying to come out of here with a solid finish at Charlotte and put ourselves in the best position possible that we can head into next week for Talladega."

Do you believe the team is heading in the right direction at the right time of the season?
"It certainly feels good that we're heading in the right direction at the right time of the year. It's all about peaking at the right time and hopefully we haven't peaked yet and we still have a ways to climb. I feel like we do anyways. We haven't won. There's opportunity there. Again, just trying to get ourselves smarter each and every week about making the right decisions and unloading with the right setups in these cars and having the guys back at the shop building us some really good downforce and thanking TRD (Toyota Racing Development) for working on the engine program through this year and getting ourselves in a better spot here the last month or so and feeling good about heading down the straightaways. All the pieces come together and they all come together at the right time and you can do great things. Hopefully there's still a continuation of that here in the next six weeks."

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND
ON THE SPEEDS:
"Oh my gosh. It's so fast; so much grip and so much commitment. Luckily our Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet had a lot of grip, too. In (Turns) 1 and 2, the last two runs, I just nailed 1 and 2. But the run before that last one, I got into (Turn) 3 a little bit too hard. Tried to get a little too aggressive through there and washed out the front. So, the guys made an adjustment and I drove in there and I just was a little bit too much. I should have been a little bit more committed because the front end finally, it cut; and I was like 'No!' That's all right. That's a great effort. Practicing here during the day and qualifying and racing at night is tough. We struggled through a few things today but I'm so proud of this team. That's certainly a good place to start this race.

"We won't be quite going this fast on Saturday night. But you definitely get to see the difference between how the car turns and how it sticks and what it does under cooler conditions with the track temps coming down versus what's happening during the day. We'll take that into consideration tomorrow when we are going through practice."

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