LOUDON, N.H. – Posting the fastest lap of Friday’s time trials late in the final round of knockout qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Carl Edwards knocked Kevin Harvick off the pole for Sunday’s Sylvania 300, the second race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Edwards covered the 1.058-mile distance in 27.604 seconds (137.980 mph) to earn his third Coors Light Pole Award of the season, his second at New Hampshire — completing a season sweep of the top starting spot at the Magic Mile — and the 16th of his career.
“To be honest, that third round surprised me, how fast we were,” said Edwards, who was 11th fastest in the second round. “I think it helped me almost to struggle through the second round, ’cause I thought, ‘Aw, heck with it,’ and I just kind of went for it in the third round.
“The car has a ton of speed. I hate to admit how poorly I drove it the first and second rounds, but I think it really says a lot about how fast the car is.”
Needing a victory or an extremely high finish to restore his hopes of repeating as NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion, Harvick (137.845 mph) posted a lap .027 seconds slower than that the pole winner to earn the second-place starting spot.
“I felt like I probably left those few hundredths of a second not being aggressive enough off the exit of turn 2, and as good as the car was off of turn 4,” Harvick said. “Small crumbs. It’s hard to balance that here, because if you push the car too much, you wind up giving up two or three tenths (of a second) instead of two or three hundredths.”
Harvick, however, declined to address his confrontation with Jimmie Johnson after last Sunday’s Chase opener at Chicagoland Speedway. Side-to-side contact with Johnson’s Chevrolet ultimately flattened the left rear tire of Harvick’s No. 4 Chevy, sending him spinning into the turn 3 wall and relegating him to a 42nd-place finish.
That result left Harvick last in the 16-driver Chase standings and incensed at the six-time champion. When Johnson approached the reigning champ in the motor coach lot after the race, Harvick responded with a blow to Johnson’s chest, as one of Harvick’s handlers tried to keep the drivers apart.
Asked whether Johnson might have something to worry about in Sunday’s race, Harvick replied, “I don’t look back. I just do what we have to do to focus on what we need to do looking forward. I’m not going to use you guys (the press) to make threats. I can do that myself.”
Kurt Busch, Harvick’s Stewart-Haas Racing teammate, qualified third at 137.800 mph, followed by Brad Keselowski (137.671 mph) and Johnson (137.621 mph), as Chase drivers claimed the top five positions on the grid.
Non-Chaser Kyle Larson was sixth fastest, while Chase drivers Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified seventh through 11th, respectively.
Other Chase competitors will start as follows: Matt Kenseth, 13th; Kyle Busch, 17th; Paul Menard, 20th; Martin Truex Jr., 21st; Jamie McMurray, 23rd and Clint Bowyer, 26th. Bowyer was the only Chase driver who failed to advance past the first round.
Travis Kvapil failed to make the 43-car field.
WDUN will have live PRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Sylvania 300 from New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, N.H. beginning at 1 pm on 102.9 FM.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, NH
Sylvania 300 – Sept. 25, 2015
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (19) Carl Edwards, Toyota, 137.980 mph.
2. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 137.845 mph.
3. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 137.800 mph.
4. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 137.671 mph.
5. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet, 137.621 mph.
6. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 137.517 mph.
7. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 137.457 mph.
8. (22) Joey Logano, Ford, 137.378 mph.
9. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 137.022 mph.
10. (24) Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 136.580 mph.
11. (88) Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet, 136.560 mph.
12. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 136.365 mph.
13. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 136.943 mph.
14. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 136.825 mph.
15. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 136.697 mph.
16. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 136.516 mph.
17. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota, 136.409 mph.
18. (55) David Ragan, Toyota, 136.360 mph.
19. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 136.306 mph.
20. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 136.082 mph.
21. (78) Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet, 136.048 mph.
22. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 135.951 mph.
23. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 135.516 mph.
24. (51) Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 135.333 mph.
25. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 135.796 mph.
26. (15) Clint Bowyer, Toyota, 135.772 mph.
27. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 135.651 mph.
28. (35) Cole Whitt, Ford, 135.607 mph.
29. (9) Sam Hornish, Jr., Ford, 135.554 mph.
30. (47) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 135.448 mph.
31. (34) Brett Moffitt #, Ford, 135.333 mph.
32. (40) Landon Cassill(i), Chevrolet, 135.121 mph.
33. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 135.021 mph.
34. (38) David Gilliland, Ford, 134.620 mph.
35. (83) Matt DiBenedetto #, Toyota, 134.411 mph.
36. (7) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 134.292 mph.
37. (98) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet, Owner Points
38. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, Owner Points
39. (33) B.J. McLeod(i), Chevrolet, Owner Points
40. (26) Josh Wise, Toyota, Owner Points
41. (23) Jeb Burton #, Toyota, Owner Points
42. (32) Jeffrey Earnhardt(i), Ford, Owner Points
43. (62) Timmy Hill(i), Ford, Owner Points
Did Not Qualify
44. (30) Travis Kvapil(i), Chevrolet, 132.600 mph.
