Jimmie Johnson Takes Pocono Pole

Jimmie Johnson
Jim Garrahan/AutoRacing1

After winning from the pole last week in Indianapolis, Jimmie Johnson grabbed the Coors Light Pole for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 this Sunday with a speed of 168.215 mph. It is the 16th pole for Johnson. Mark Martin grabbed the outside pole for an all Chevrolet front row, while David Gilliland, Jeff Gordon and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top five.

"That was a great lap for us. The car was really comfortable. I knew coming to the green that I was going to be in good shape. We got the balance right for all three turns and this Lowe’s Impala was really working great. We had a really good practice session this morning, but we felt like we could improve the car. The guys made some great decisions and it pretty much paid off" said Johnson of his qualifying effort, "we really improved on things since last spring and where we are on the race car. I think we've gone in the right direction. There has been a lot of hard work throughout all of Hendrick Motorsports and it's nice to see it coming together. I'm glad I did my job and hit my marks. It's a very technical track, a lot like Indy, where it's easy to miss one of the corners. We got a great lap and feel really good about that", said Johnson of his qualifying effort."

When asked about his chances of repeating a win from the pole similar to last week at Indy, "We didn't do any race practice so I'm not sure how we'll be in the race, but I have a sneaky suspicion we'll be all right."

After winning from the pole at Pocono in the June race, Kasey Kahne qualified 7th as the second fastest Dodge as Ryan Newman qualified 6th fastest.

Results

POS

CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 168.215 53.503 Leader
2 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet Steak-umm Burgers 167.560 53.712 -0.209
3 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 167.187 53.832 -0.329
4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 167.106 53.858 -0.355
5 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 166.883 53.930 -0.427
6 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Avis 166.784 53.962 -0.459
7 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 166.522 54.047 -0.544
8 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 166.522 54.047 -0.544
9 16 Greg Biffle Ford DISH Network Turbo HD 166.516 54.049 -0.546
10 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 166.445 54.072 -0.569
11 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 166.392 54.089 -0.586
12 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet AMP Energy / National Guard 166.349 54.103 -0.600
13 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 166.199 54.152 -0.649
14 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Express 166.153 54.167 -0.664
15 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 166.076 54.192 -0.689
16 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 165.932 54.239 -0.736
17 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 165.914 54.245 -0.742
18 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet Haas Automation 165.868 54.260 -0.757
19 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Hitachi Power Tools 165.828 54.273 -0.770
20 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 165.773 54.291 -0.788
21 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 165.767 54.293 -0.790
22 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Energizer / Menards 165.606 54.346 -0.843
23 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row 165.587 54.352 -0.849
24 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 165.569 54.358 -0.855
25 10 Terry Labonte Dodge Charter Comm. 165.520 54.374 -0.871
26 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1 165.514 54.376 -0.873
27 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M's 165.499 54.381 -0.878
28 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 165.465 54.392 -0.889
29 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Best Buy / Garmin 165.432 54.403 -0.900
30 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 165.371 54.423 -0.920
31 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 165.201 54.479 -0.976
32 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 165.168 54.490 -0.987
33 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Cheez-It / CARQUEST 165.159 54.493 -0.990
34 45 Chad McCumbee Dodge Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil 165.029 54.536 -1.033
35 00 Michael McDowell* Toyota Champion Mortgage 165.010 54.542 -1.039
36 01 Regan Smith* Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 164.751 54.628 -1.125
37 21 Bill Elliott Ford Little Debbie 164.706 54.643 -1.140
38 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Johns Manville / Menards 164.684 54.650 -1.147
39 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Team USA 164.660 54.658 -1.155
40 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Haas Automation 164.546 54.696 -1.193
41 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Crown Royal 164.525 54.703 -1.200
42 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 164.177 54.819 -1.316
43 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 163.271 55.123 -1.620

Failed to Qualify – Chad Chaffin