Sprint Cup Series Qualifying News and Notes

Kansas Speedway qualifying turned in to a pretty special day for Kevin Harvick. For the first time since 2006, Harvick will sit on the pole for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday afternoon. Knocking Ricky Stenhouse Jr. off of the pole, Harvick will have the honor of first pit stall in the 4th Race for the Chase. Harvick ran a lap speed of 187.526, just slightly faster than Rookie Stenhouse Jr at 187.480.

Harvick topped practice earlier in the day and had nothing but praise for his team. “Everybody on our Budweiser team has done a good job,” he said in his press conference following the Pole win. “We made a couple really good runs in practice…but we knew the conditions would be cooler so we put the car back how we started practice and hoped that the race track came our way.”

Stenhouse ran a great qualifying lap but unfortunately it just wasn’t quite good enough. “We were close but our average start here at Kansas is going to be pretty solid now,” he said following his qualifying run.

Jimmie Johnson, who currently sits second in points, will start third on Sunday with a qualifying speed of 187.162.

With some incidents during practice that included a spin and a leaking oil cooler and radiator, Johnson still managed to put his Lowe’s No.48 Chevrolet in the second row for Sunday.

Here is how your Chase Contenders qualified:

P1: Kevin Harvick

P3: Jimmie Johnson

P5: Joey Logano

P6: Dale Earnhardt Jr.

P7: Matt Kenseth

P9: Carl Edwards

P14: Jeff Gordon

P15: Kasey Kahne

P17: Ryan Newman

P18: Kyle Busch

P19: Kurt Busch

P22: Clint Bowyer

P26: Greg Biffle

Katie Copple