Denny Hamlin won the pole for Sunday’s Emory Healthcare 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, turning the day’s fast lap in 29.587 seconds (187.380 mph).
Starting next to Hamlin for the inaugural NASCAR Sprint Cup Series night race at Atlanta is Ryan Newman, who held the top spot for most of the qualifying session until being bumped to the outside of row one. Kyle Busch will start third, just one one-thousandth slower than Newman.
“We did the Goodyear tire test here in January, which I think definitely played into our hand,” said Newman, who has already racked up seven career poles at Atlanta. “I think we have a pretty good race setup too.”
Unadilla native David Ragan was the highest Georgia qualifier, putting his car ninth on the grid with a lap of 186.692 mph (29.696 seconds). Former Alpharetta resident Joey Logano will start 31st, Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson will be 33rd and Dawsonville’s Bill Elliott will be 40th.
Tony Stewart will roll off fifth in the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet qualified seventh with Juan Pablo Montoya along side in eighth in his No. 42 Huggies/Target Chevrolet.
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 2 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 3 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 4 99 Carl Edwards Ford 5 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 6 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 8 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 9 6 David Ragan Ford 10 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 11 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 12 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 13 0 David Reutimann Toyota 14 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 16 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 17 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 18 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 19 98 Paul Menard Ford 20 82 Scott Speed Toyota 21 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 22 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 23 46 Michael McDowell Chevrolet 24 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 26 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 27 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 28 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 29 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 30 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 31 20 Joey Logano Toyota 32 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 33 83 Reed Sorenson Toyota 34 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 35 26 Patrick Carpentier Ford 36 37 David Gilliland Ford 37 38 Dave Blaney Ford 38 36 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 39 55 Mike Bliss Toyota 40 21 Bill Elliott Ford 41 34 Travis Kvapil+ Ford 42 7 Kevin Conway+* Toyota 43 13 Casey Mears Toyota
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