Kahne wins Darlington pole with record lap
By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service
(May 6, 2011)
DARLINGTON , S.C. —With a lightning-fast lap at track-record speed, Kasey Kahne won the pole for Saturday night's Showtime Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.
With a lap at 181.254 mph (27.131 seconds), Kahne shattered the qualifying record of 180.370 mph set last year by Jamie McMurray at the 1.366-mile speedway. The Coors Light Pole Award was Kahne's first of the season and the 21st of his NASCAR Sprint Cup career.
Ryan Newman qualified second at 180.429 mph, followed by Denny Hamlin (180.132 mph), Carl Edwards (179.980 mph) and seven-time Darlington winner Jeff Gordon (179.829 mph). Marcos Ambrose, AJ Allmendinger, Brian Vickers, Tony Stewart and Brad Keselowski will start from positions 6-10, respectively.
Starting from the pole is nothing new to Kahne, who qualified first at Darlington in three of his first four visits to the Lady in Black. Finishes are another issue. Kahne's best result at Darlington is a third in 2005, but in the last five races he has fared no better than 20th.
Scott Riggs, Andy Lally and Brian Keselowski failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
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