Denny Hamlin played the role of spoiler by taking the pole in Friday night’s qualifying for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, denying any of the four finalists in the Chase for the Sprint Cup a chance at the coveted front row in the season-finale race.
Hamlin was among the last cars to take the track for a single lap around the 1.5-mile oval in the third and final session, and raced to the top of the speed charts with a lap of 176.655 mph to knock Joey Logano from the top spot and claim his third pole of the season.
Logano held on for the second starting position, while Kyle Busch took third as the highest qualifier among the Championship Four. Ryan Newman was fourth, followed by another of the final four drivers, Jeff Gordon, who qualified fifth in his final Sprint Cup Series start.
Martin Truex, Jr. was the third highest among the championship contenders, starting in 11th spot, while defending series champion Kevin Harvick failed to make it out of the second round and qualified 13th.
The highest finisher among the four drivers will be crowned the champion.
Hamlin, who was knocked out of the Chase in the third round, earned his 20th top-10 start of the season as well as the 23rd pole of his career.
“Definitely wish we had a little bit more to race for but you’ve got a great trophy at the end of this thing so proud of this whole FedEx Ground team for giving me a fast car,” said Hamlin. “It’s been fast all day so to run our fastest lap in the last session means it’s a good sign.
“We wish we were a part of (the championship) but unfortunately a couple mechanical things took us out of this Chase but we’re going to hopefully go out with a bang. Ultimately this weekend is about the company no doubt about it. What’s the difference in me finishing 10th or 12th in points. Definitely our goal is to have a championship for JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Kyle (Busch) this weekend, so we’ll do everything we can. We obviously want to win the race so a perfect day would be us winning and him finishing second.”
Logano captured the outside pole in what is sure to be a bittersweet final race of the season, after infamously missing out on making the Championship Four after being crashed out at Martinsville by Matt Kenseth.
“Life is short. This is a drop in the bucket,” said Logano. “For me it works for me to stay positive. Is it disappointing we aren’t racing with these guys for the championship? Of course it is. We want to be. But it is what it is and we move on.”
Gordon, who will make his final-career Sprint Cup Series start when he takes the green flag on Sunday, got in the first shot across the bow when he knocked Harvick out of the top 12 with his own qualifying run in the second round.
Although Gordon was denied the pole – leaving him 81 poles, ranking him third all-time behind Richard Petty and David Pearson – he still hopes to end his career with a championship win.
“Obviously with our effort today in qualifying, I think we showed how bad we all want it, to be better than just being here battling for the championship and it being my final race,” said Gordon. “I’m having a blast. Just seeing people that I grew up racing quarter midgets with, family and friends, and I mean, it’s a win win for me this weekend, no matter what happens.”
Harvick was just barely hanging onto the 12th position when Gordon knocked him out of the top 12. Harvick came back onto the track to make a final run to try and advance, but came up short and will start last among the four vying for the title.
“It’s really no different than any other week,” said Harvick of qualifying 13th. “I mean, we’ve not qualified as well this year as we had last year, especially on some of these types of racetracks.
“Round 1 was really good for us, and then we went to round 2 and just really, really tight in the next two runs that we made. You know, we just never really recovered from what we did in the first round to make it repeat. All in all, I just think our balance was too tight. We’ll work on the race car and go from there.”
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of the NASCAR Ford Championship weekend from Homestead-Miami Speedway, beginning on Saturday with the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ford Ecoboost 300 beginning at 2:15 on 102.9 FM. Coverage continues on Sunday with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford Ecoboost 400 beginning at 2 pm on 102.9 FM.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 400 – November 20, 2015
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 176.655 mph.
2. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 176.263 mph.
3. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 176.062 mph.
4. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 175.347 mph.
5. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 175.291 mph.
6. (21) Ryan Blaney(i), Ford, 175.143 mph.
7. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 175.063 mph.
8. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 175.046 mph.
9. (88) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 174.678 mph.
10. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 174.633 mph.
11. (78) Martin Truex. Jr., Chevrolet, 174.498 mph.
12. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 174.098 mph.
13. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 175.444 mph.
14. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 175.404 mph.
15. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 175.365 mph.
16. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Chevrolet, 175.279 mph.
17. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 175.239 mph.
18. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 175.239 mph.
19. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 175.211 mph.
20. (47) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 174.859 mph.
21. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 174.419 mph.
22. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 174.340 mph.
23. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 174.059 mph.
24. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 172.651 mph.
25. (33) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 174.848 mph.
26. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 174.115 mph.
27. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 173.829 mph.
28. (9) Sam Hornish, Jr., Ford, 173.723 mph.
29. (95) Michael McDowell, Ford, 173.650 mph.
30. (51) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 173.399 mph.
31. (26) J.J. Yeley(i), Toyota, 173.199 mph.
32. (32) Josh Wise, Ford, 172.833 mph.
33. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 172.750 mph.
34. (40) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 172.618 mph.
35. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 172.463 mph.
36. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 172.276 mph.
37. (83) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, Owner Points
38. (55) David Ragan, Toyota, Owner Points
39. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, Owner Points
40. (35) Cole Whitt, Ford, Owner Points
41. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, Owner Points
42. (34) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, Owner Points
43. (98) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, Owner Points
Did Not Qualify
44. (23) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, 170.084 mph.
45. (62) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 169.545 mph.
