Kahne Races To Homestead Pole

By Joe Jennings
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Updated: November 19, 2010

Homestead, Fla. – Five weeks after switching teams, Kasey Kahne raced to the pole position for Sunday’s Ford 400, the final race of the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The quiet-spoken driver powered around the 1.5-mile Homestead-Miami Speedway at a speed of 176.904 miles per hour.

For Kahne, he earned his fourth pole of the season and the 20th of his career. Since joining the Red Bull Toyota team a month ago, his best qualifying effort in four tries had been a 16th at Talladega.

“One of our best qualifying efforts so far,” Kahne said. “The car was a little free in practice, and we made the right changes. And it is exciting to be up front and be in the mix (for the season finale Ford 400).”

Discussing the transition to the Red Bull car, he added, “The five races have been beneficial for us. We have struggled and haven’t had the finishes that we should have, but I have learned a lot about the team.”

Next week Kahne will have his knees operated on to correct a condition he has had since childhood. The surgery will be performed Tuesday and he expects to be fully recovered in five weeks’ time.

Carl Edwards qualified the Aflac Ford second at 176.725 mph, posting his 15th top-10 start of 2010, and Jamie McMurray was a tick of the clock behind at 176.713. For the Daytona 500 winner, he earned his fourth top-10 start at Homestead and overall, his 15th top-10 in 36 races.

Said Edwards of his run, “My mission was to do two things – number one, to beat Jamie. We did that and I thought, ‘Man, we’ve got it. We’ve got the pole,’ and then Kasey came along and got the pole, so there couldn’t be two better guys to race for this. For us, we came into this race focused on this qualifying effort and it is disappointing to not get the pole, but we’ll have a great starting spot.”

McMurray was pleased with his run in the Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Boats Chevrolet. “I had a really solid lap,” he commented. “A lot of the guys were running on the top but I elected to run from the middle to the bottom (of the track). The car felt great and I really thought it was a pole-sitting lap, but I was a little bit off.”

For Sprint Cup championship contenders, Jimmie Johnson had the best effort with the sixth-fastest time. Kevin Harvick timed 28th fastest and point leader Denny Hamlin was far back in 37th place.

Said Johnson, who won the pole a year ago, “It was definitely a good lap for us.” Harvick added, “I thought we might be a little bit better, but not much. Our car was very comfortable in race trim, and we are ready to go.”

Hamlin was somewhat frustrated with the slow run and thought he had duplicated Kyle Busch’s performance, but it didn’t work out. He said qualifying is not his strong suit and he’s ready for Sunday’s main event.

Behind Kahne, Edwards and McMurray for the start of the Ford 400 were the Fords of Bill Elliott and A. J. Allmendinger, Johnson, David Reutimann, Mark Martin, David Ragan and Regan Smith.

Forty-five cars made a qualification attempt with Michael McDowell and Patrick Carpentier coming up short.

The Ford 400 will get the green flag at 1 p.m. ET on Sunday and will be telecast live by ESPN.