Greg Biffle took the pole. Kyle Busch took the heat. Biffle held off the Busch brothers, turning a lap of 155.219 mph at Dover International Speedway to take the top spot and bolster his bid to drive the No. 16 Ford to his first victory of the season.
Kurt Busch was second at 153.971, and points leader Kyle Busch was third at 153.767 on the 1-mile concrete track.
“I was trying to chase down Biffle, but he ran an incredible lap,” Kurt Busch said.
Biffle knocked the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota of Kyle Busch off the pole. Kyle Busch, the series points leader by 94 points over Jeff Burton, will start third, alongside Jimmie Johnson on the second row. It will be the 10th time in 13 races this season that he will start in the top 10.
Biffle is 11th in points, a position that would qualify him for a place in the Chase for the Cup. Kurt Busch is in need of some serious improvement if he’s to qualify for the spot in the 12-car field of championship contenders. His Penske Racing Dodge hasn’t seen the top 10 since finishing second in the Daytona 500 and sits 21st in points, 262 behind Kahne, who holds the 12th spot.
“We’re just trying to claw our way back into this,” Kurt Busch said.
Three-time Dover winner and two-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson was fourth at 153.754 mph, followed by Jamie McMurray (153.597 mph). Brian Vickers, Jeff Gordon, A.J. Allmendinger, Elliott Sadler and Jeremy Mayfield will start from positions six through 10.
“It’s funny,” Biffle said. “The less time we spend on qualifying, the better we qualify. At the end of practice, we tried a little different spring in the front of the car, and it picked the speed up about a tenth of a second a lap.
“We left that spring in for qualifying, and it probably sped the car up—the car was perfect.”
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