Kevin Harvick may not be in the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship hunt, but he wants to show he would have been a force to be reckoned with in the season finale.
Harvick turned the fastest lap in the final round of qualifying Friday night to score the pole for Sunday’s Ford EcoBoost 400, the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Meanwhile, Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards were the only two championship contenders to make it to the final round of qualifying, timing in at ninth and tenth, respectively.
Joey Logano and Jimmie Johnson didn’t make it out of round two, with Logano turning in the 13th fastest lap while Johnson was 14th quick.
Harvick turned in a lap at 30.399 seconds, 177.637 mph to knock Ryan Newman out of the top spot. That lap was enough to hold off Brad Keselowski as time ran out in the final round.
Harvick had been quick through the first two sessions, turning in the seventh fastest time in round one and the third fastest in round two.
“That’s awesome,” said Harvick. “I didn’t know if we had a chance at the pole with as fast as the No. 24 (Chase Elliott) had been. But I knew if we could just run the same speed every round, that is half the battle because you never know how much it is going to slow down for everybody else, and it doesn’t take much to make a mistake.”
For Johnson, the drama started early as he prepares to contend for a seventh championship, which would tie him with NASCAR Hall of Famers Richard Petty and Dale Earnhardt, Sr. on the all-time list.
Johnson was the first to hit the track in round one, but laid down an unexpectedly slow lap that saw him knocked out of the top 24 transfer spots. With just over a minute left in the session, Johnson charged back out to try to better his time. But that attempt stopped along with the clock when Landon Cassill spun off of turn two, bringing out the red flag with 57 seconds left.
Back under green, Johnson had just enough time to get started on an additional lap, and was able to squeak in at the 22nd position.
In the second round, Johnson waited until the final moments to try to run for the top 12, but came up short, as he’ll start the farther back than any other Championship contenders in 14th.
“Unfortunately, that first outing we just didn’t get a good lap,” said Johnson. “Then I was on a great lap and the caution came out so we ended up with an additional lap on our tires. We had a nice pick up there for five or six laps on our tires, whatever it was and ended up 14th. A bit unlucky and we kind of hurt ourselves that opening run and I think to end up 14th on the age of those tires is respectable.
“Qualifying isn’t my strong suit, I’m much better at racing, so let’s line them up and go racing.”
Starting alongside Johnson in 13th will be Logano, who timed in fourth fastest in round one. He wasn’t able to back that up in the second round, and was unable to make the cut to contend for the pole.
“It was a little free and a little tight at other times,” said Logano. “It is hard to get back out there real quick. It is what it is. We will start 13th. It is not that bad. We will be okay. We will race hard and practice our car tomorrow to get it driving good and be able to move around in different lanes and stuff like that.”
Edwards was quick enough to be in the top six in both opening rounds of qualifying, and even took an extra lap in the final round to try to better his time. In the end, he came up in the spot alongside his Toyota teammate Busch, starting 10th.
“I don’t think any of us really want to start that far back,” Edwards said. “We probably had a lot better hopes than that. It is what it is. Pit stall selection will be pretty even, I guess. I haven’t looked at all the openings. But yeah, I don’t know what to think of it, really.”
Kyle Busch, the defending series champion and defending race winner, was 17th quick in round one and seventh fastest in round two. In the end, he was the fastest of all the title contenders, and will roll off from the ninth starting spot on the grid Sunday.
“Yeah, it wasn’t certainly the run that we were looking for,” said Busch. “We were wanting to see a little bit better than that, but we were just too free during qualifying. We just kind of missed the balance a little bit and didn’t quite have the confidence that I needed within the car to get more out of it.
“But it was a decent qualifying effort, I guess, if you consider the big picture of where we’re all at. We are all pretty tight. Throw a blanket over each other, we’re all right there. At least one camera can probably catch us all when we turn off into turn 1.”
Newman was third fastest in the final round, with Denny Hamlin fourth and Dawsonville, Georgia’s Chase Elliott, who paced the first two rounds, in fifth.
Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Kenseth, Ryan Blaney, Kyle Busch, Edwards, Tony Stewart and A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top 12 qualifiers.
Only one driver, Gray Gaulding, failed to make the starting field.
WDUN will have live MRN Radio coverage of Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season finale, the Ford Ecoboost 400 from Homestead-Miami Speedway beginning at 1:30 pm on 102.9 FM and AM 550.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Homestead-Miami Speedway – Homestead, FL
Ford EcoBoost 400 – November 18, 2016
Friday’s Qualifying Results
1. (4) Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 177.637 mph.
2. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford, 177.538 mph.
3. (31) Ryan Newman, Chevrolet, 177.387 mph.
4. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 177.194 mph.
5. (24) Chase Elliott #, Chevrolet, 177.096 mph.
6. (78) Martin Truex, Jr., Toyota, 176.974 mph.
7. (20) Matt Kenseth, Toyota, 176.505 mph.
8. (21) Ryan Blaney #, Ford, 176.413 mph.
9. (18) Kyle Busch (C), Toyota, 175.959 mph.
10. (19) Carl Edwards (C), Toyota, 175.615 mph.
11. (14) Tony Stewart, Chevrolet, 174.978 mph.
12. (47) A.J. Allmendinger, Chevrolet, 174.831 mph.
13. (22) Joey Logano (C), Ford, 176.638 mph.
14. (48) Jimmie Johnson (C), Chevrolet, 176.269 mph.
15. (1) Jamie McMurray, Chevrolet, 176.263 mph.
16. (41) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet, 176.246 mph.
17. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 176.120 mph.
18. (17) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 175.965 mph.
19. (88) Alex Bowman(i), Chevrolet, 175.655 mph.
20. (6) Trevor Bayne, Ford, 175.536 mph.
21. (16) Greg Biffle, Ford, 175.018 mph.
22. (44) Brian Scott #, Ford, 174.984 mph.
23. (13) Casey Mears, Chevrolet, 174.972 mph.
24. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 173.756 mph.
25. (43) Aric Almirola, Ford, 175.092 mph.
26. (59) Michael McDowell, Chevrolet, 174.972 mph.
27. (34) Chris Buescher #, Ford, 174.967 mph.
28. (27) Paul Menard, Chevrolet, 174.893 mph.
29. (5) Kasey Kahne, Chevrolet, 174.695 mph.
30. (10) Danica Patrick, Chevrolet, 174.667 mph.
31. (49) Matt DiBenedetto(i), Toyota, 174.306 mph.
32. (38) Landon Cassill, Ford, 174.025 mph.
33. (15) Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet, 173.952 mph.
34. (95) Ty Dillon(i), Chevrolet, 173.796 mph.
35. (7) Regan Smith, Chevrolet, 173.706 mph.
36. (23) David Ragan, Toyota, 172.529 mph.
37. (55) Reed Sorenson, Toyota, 170.578 mph.
38. (83) Jeffrey Earnhardt #, Toyota, 168.687 mph.
39. (32) Dylan Lupton(i), Ford, 166.036 mph.
40. (46) Michael Annett, Chevrolet, 165.853 mph.
Did Not Qualify:
41. (30) Gray Gaulding, Chevrolet, 168.935 mph.
