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Sonoma, CA, United States (AHN) – Using the same car that he wheeled to a win here a year ago, Kasey Kahne won the pole Friday for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway.
Turning a lap of 93.893 mph on the 11-turn, 1.99-mile road course, Kahne used his Richard Petty Motorsports Ford to knock four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson off the pole.
“It was a fast lap for our Budweiser Ford. The team has done a really nice job. The car has been fast since we started and it’s real similar to last year, so it’s nice to drive it,” said Kahne. “I feel like I used up most of the race track and really got all I could there.”
Johnson has never won on a road course, but settled for starting on the outside of the front row after turning a lap of 93.809 mph in his No. 48 Chevrolet of Hendrick Motorsports.
Kurt Busch will roll off third and following him is points leader Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Marcos Ambrose, a driver who has dabbled around with winning here in the past.
“It’s too important for us, really. We’re putting so much on us this weekend that it doesn’t help you do what you have to do on the race track,” said Ambrose. “We’ve had a terrible year and are trying to bounce back. We just want to get through this weekend, hopefully with a top-five, challenge for a win and hopefully get our season really going.”
Tony Stewart qualified seventh and Bobby Labonte, Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10 starters.
Mark Martin will roll off 11th and will be followed by Denny Hamlin, who has won two races in a row and five overall.
“We’re going to have to throw stuff at it because we are still a half second off from those guys. We need to close that gap,” said Hamlin. “We’re going to kind of throw a new setup in there tomorrow and see what happens.”
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