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Jimmie Johnson claimed pole position for the Camping World 400 after Juan Pablo Montoya's time was disallowed following qualifying at Kansas Speedway.
The reigning champion only learned he had got pole position about an hour after he had completed his media duties believing he was going to be second on the grid after Montoya had beaten his benchmark in qualifying.
Montoya had run well during this week's test at Lowe's Motor Speedway and backed that up with a good run in the morning practice, showing he was a candidate for pole position.
However officials found during the post-qualifying inspection after his pole run that the rear shock absorbers on his Ganassi car exceeded the maximum allowed gas pressure, meaning the Colombian will be starting from forty-second position on Sunday.
Johnson will therefore start from pole for the fifth time this year and the third at Kansas. His pole was even more encouraging given the poor qualifying that most of the title contenders had on Friday.
"It was a strong day and a strong effort and it's a great starting spot," Johnson said. "A lot of the Chasers seem to have difficulty qualifying today and hopefully we can take advantage of the good track position and get a good pit stall pick and turn that into getting some momentum going on Sunday."
Veteran Mark Martin will start from the front row for the second week in a row, while Matt Kenseth was by far the best placed of the Roush Fenway drivers on the grid, getting an unusual fourth place that transpired into third after the technical inspection.
"It still didn't drive really great, but it was a lot better than what we had," Kenseth said about the handling of his car. "It just didn't grip the track. It just feels so slow compared to what we usually have here.
"So, I think overall everybody's just low on grip, and our group at Roush Fenway seemed to be off since we got here."
Rounding up a good day for Dale Earnhardt Inc besides Martin's good run were Martin Truex Jr and Paul Menard in fifth and sixth places respectively. Truex had been fastest in the morning practice but couldn't quite match his previous benchmark on his qualifying lap.
Brian Vickers was the fastest Toyota qualifier in ninth, while among the title contenders, next up in the order was Dale Earnhardt Jr in eleventh. His teammate Jeff Gordon was thirteenth right ahead of AJ Allmendinger, who might be on his final race weekend for Red Bull Racing team.
Last year's event winner and Chase dominator Greg Biffle qualified only eighteenth, while his teammate and point's leader Carl Edwards was only thirty-fourth fastest. However Tony Stewart was once again the worst of the 'Chasers' in forty-first place.
"We were hoping for a little bit better than that," said Biffle. "Actually, I was thinking we might be able to do a 31.50 or 31.60 or something. We've just got something wrong with our cars here, all of us do, the whole group. I guess we've got one more day to figure it out."
Patrick Carpentier was the fastest rookie qualifier in nineteenth place, while Michael McDowell and Johnny Sauter both failed to make the field.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time
1. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 172.007 31.394
2. Mark Martin Chevrolet 171.767 31.438 + 0.044
3. Matt Kenseth Ford 171.668 31.456 + 0.062
4. Elliott Sadler Dodge 171.527 31.482 + 0.088
5. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 171.331 31.518 + 0.124
6. Paul Menard Chevrolet 171.162 31.549 + 0.155
7. Bill Elliott Ford 170.989 31.581 + 0.187
8. Kasey Kahne Dodge 170.762 31.623 + 0.229
9. Brian Vickers Toyota 170.762 31.623 + 0.229
10. Casey Mears Chevrolet 170.751 31.625 + 0.231
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 170.735 31.628 + 0.234
12. David Ragan Ford 170.616 31.650 + 0.256
13. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 170.508 31.670 + 0.276
14. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 170.498 31.672 + 0.278
15. Ryan Newman Dodge 170.374 31.695 + 0.301
16. Jamie McMurray Ford 170.256 31.717 + 0.323
17. Reed Sorenson Dodge 170.250 31.718 + 0.324
18. Greg Biffle Ford 170.186 31.730 + 0.336
19. Patrick Carpentier Dodge 170.057 31.754 + 0.360
20. Marcos Ambrose Ford 170.052 31.755 + 0.361
21. Bobby Labonte Dodge 169.705 31.820 + 0.426
22. Kyle Petty Dodge 169.523 31.854 + 0.460
23. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 169.481 31.862 + 0.468
24. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 169.337 31.889 + 0.495
25. Tony Raines Chevrolet 169.337 31.889 + 0.495
26. Dave Blaney Toyota 169.322 31.892 + 0.498
27. Kyle Busch Toyota 169.253 31.905 + 0.511
28. Joey Logano Toyota 169.226 31.910 + 0.516
29. Michael Waltrip Toyota 169.157 31.923 + 0.529
30. Denny Hamlin Toyota 169.141 31.926 + 0.532
31. Kurt Busch Dodge 169.088 31.936 + 0.542
32. David Gilliland Ford 168.908 31.970 + 0.576
33. Travis Kvapil Ford 168.855 31.980 + 0.586
34. Carl Edwards Ford 168.808 31.989 + 0.595
35. Regan Smith Chevrolet 168.798 31.991 + 0.597
36. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 168.750 32.000 + 0.606
37. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 168.455 32.056 + 0.662
38. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 168.303 32.085 + 0.691
39. Robby Gordon Dodge 168.104 32.123 + 0.729
40. David Reutimann Toyota 167.937 32.155 + 0.761
41. Tony Stewart Toyota 167.281 32.281 + 0.887
42. Juan Montoya Dodge Time disqualified
43. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 168.277 32.090 + 0.696
