Jimmie Johnson will start on the pole for Sunday’s New Hampshire 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet. Johnson held down the fort atop the speed chart after posting a fast time of 28.430, 133.971 mph. during the final round of qualifying.
“I knew the car was good. We had something really weird go on in our mock run in practice for qualifying. It had us kind of confused. We went back to kind of square one and where we unloaded,” said Johnson after winning the pole. “The car was fast in all the sessions, a little tight, but we kept progressing, we kept our lap count down which was really important and was able to advance to the next round on the first lap, so just really happy. It was a trying day for sure, but just so proud of this who race team.
Johnson, a six-time Sprint Cup Series Champion, posted the 16th fastest time in the first round of qualifying. He then advanced into the final round by posting the fifth fastest time.
Kyle Busch will start right beside Johnson when the field goes green on Sunday. Busch, a Las Vegas native, posted a 28.460, 133.830 mph. during the final round of Sprint Cup qualifying. The reigning Sprint Cup Series champion advanced into the second round by posting the 10th fastest time in round one. Busch went out and led the second round of knockout qualifying to place himself into the final round.
Martin Truex Jr. posted the third fastest lap in the final round and will start Sunday’s race in third. Truex, a native from New Jersey, will seek his second Sprint Cup Series victory here in 2016. He finished the first round in sixth and 12th in round two.
Top 12 starters:
Jimmie Johnson
Kyle Busch
Martin Truex Jr.
Kurt Busch
Denny Hamlin
Joey Logano
Chase Elliott
Kevin Harvick
Brad Keselowski
Kasey Kahne
Tony Stewart
No drivers failed to qualify and there were no incidents throughout the three rounds of knockout qualifying.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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