Roush Fenway teammates Biffle, Edwards pace Kansas qualifying

Roush Fenway teammates Biffle, Edwards pace Kansas qualifying

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

(October 7, 2011)

KANSAS CITY, Kan.—Greg Biffle edged teammate Carl Edwards for the top starting spot in Sunday's Hollywood Casino 400, as Roush Fenway racing swept the front row for the fourth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.

Biffle turned a lap at 174.887 mph (30.877 seconds) to claim his second Coors Light Pole Award of the year and the eighth of his career. Edwards was a close second at 174.571 mph.

Third-place qualifier Kyle Busch (174.447 mph) crashed the Roush Fenway party, edging RFR Ford driver Matt Kenseth (174.436 mph), who will start fourth. Kasey Kahne (174.413 mph) qualified fifth.

Paul Menard, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon will start from positions six through 10, respectively.

Biffle said his qualifying run was a case of making something out of nothing. At the start of Friday's first Cup practice session, Biffle thought a pole was out of the question.

"I unloaded off the truck, and I tried to make a lap, and I said, ‘We're in big trouble,'" Biffle said. "We went from there to being the fastest car. It wasn't in one run. The next run we got a little but better. The next run—not bad, but we need more. The next run I was a little frustrated, so we put tires on at that point, and I only ran a 49 (31.49 seconds).

"That put me up to about 17th or 15th or so. That hurts, because guys are running flats and teens. I knew we were still four tenths of a second off of being up there. At that point, I'm in defense mode—if we get another 10th out of it, we can be in the top 10."

Biffle's team, led by crew chief Matt Puccia, had other ideas.

"I never thought we'd be on the pole," Biffle said. "They went back and looked at the data and worked on it. And I've got to pat myself on the back a little bit. I must have drove a pretty good lap in order to get it up there, but they did a lot of work and really studied it, and that says a lot for a team, and that says a lot for Matt."

Chase co-leaders Edwards and Harvick start second and 14th, respectively. Other Chase drivers qualified as follows: Kyle Busch, third; Kenseth, fourth; Hamlin, seventh; Gordon, 10th, Ryan Newman, 11th; Brad Keselowski, 12th; Kurt Busch, 17th; Dale Earnhardt Jr. 18th; Jimmie Johnson, 19th; Tony Stewart, 23rd.

Austin Dillon, second fastest of the drivers required to make the field on speed, will start 26th in his Cup series debut.

David Starr, Josh Wise and Mike Skinner failed to qualify for the 43-car field.