Earnhardt Jr. wins Kentucky pole, sets track record

Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole after setting the fastest time during Friday’s qualifying session for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

“All of the guys did a real good job of putting a good car out there,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“We got off turn two well and through [turns] three and four especially well.”

Turning a lap at 183.636 mph around the 1.5-mile track, Earnhardt Jr.broke the previous track record set by his Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Jimmie Johnson, and  grabbed his first pole position of the 2013 season and his first since  at Richmond International Raceway in September,2012.

The pole was marked the twelfth of his Sprint Cup career and his first at Kentucky Speedway.

Earnhardt Jr. took the top-spot away from Johnson early in the session, and held off second-place starter, Carl Edwards, as the session came to a close.

“I felt like we had a good enough chance to put a good lap down but I didn’t think we had a good enough chance to beat Jimmie and some of them guys up there,” Earnhardt Jr. said.

“We got some great cloud cover and it cooled the track temperature down.”

Edwards, Johnson, Kyle Busch, Marcos Ambrose, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, and Brian Vickers all broke Johnson’s previous track record of 181.818 mph which was set last season.

Keselowski, who won last year’s race at Kentuck Speedway, starts in eighth.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the fastest rookie qualifier in 13th position.

43 cars attempted to make the 43-car field. No cars failed to qualify.

Quaker State 400 Starting Lineup 

1. Dale Earnhardt Jr. 
2. Carl Edwards
3. Jimmie Johnson
4. Kyle Busch
5. Marcos Ambrose
6. Denny Hamlin
7. Ryan Newman
8. Brad Keselowski
9. Brian Vickers
10. Juan Pablo Montoya
11. Joey Logano
12. Jeff Gordon
13. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
14. Jeff Burton
15. Clint Bowyer
16. Matt Kenseth
17. AJ Allmendinger
18. Aric Almirola
19. Martin Truex Jr.
20. Greg Biffle
21. Kasey Kahne
22. Kevin Harvick
23. Jamie McMurray
24. Paul Menard
25. Tony Stewart
26. Austin Dillon
27. Kurt Busch
28. David Stremme
29. Danica Patrick
30. Landon Cassill
31. Casey Mears
32. Dave Blaney
33. Michael McDowell
34. David Gilliland
35. JJ Yeley
36. David Reutimann
37. Josh Wise
38. David Ragan
39. Mike Bliss
40. Travis Kvapil
41. Joe Nemechek
42. Scott Riggs
43. Ken Schrader