Las Vegas, NV (Sports Network) - Kasey Kahne will start on the pole for
Sunday's Kobalt Tools 400 after setting a new track qualifying record at Las
Vegas Motor Speedway.
Kahne turned in a blistering lap at 190.456 mph during Friday's qualifying
session at Las Vegas for his 23rd career Sprint Cup Series pole but his first
with Hendrick Motorsports. He is now the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet for
Hendrick.
"It feels good," said Kahne, who became the first driver to win three poles at
Las Vegas. "The car was awesome. It's unreal how well the Hendrick engines
run. It was the same way last weekend at Phoenix. It was a great effort by the
team, and I'm looking forward to Sunday."
Kahne's two other poles at Las Vegas came in 2004 and '07. He has yet to win a
Sprint Cup race at this 1.5-mile track.
Las Vegas-native Kyle Busch earned the outside pole with a lap at 190.040 mph.
Busch captured the pole and won at his hometrack in 2009.
"It's always fun, of course, to be able to come back home and see friends and
everything like that, but it's more stressful when you get to the racetrack.
You want to win here," Busch said.
Third-place qualifier Kevin Harvick was the only other driver who hit the 190
mph barrier.
"When we qualify that close to the front, it's usually going to be a great
weekend," he said.
Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the fourth spot, while Clint Bowyer completed the top-
five.
Jimmie Johnson, a four-time Las Vegas race winner, Tony Stewart, the defending
series champion, Joey Logano, Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr. qualified sixth
through 10th, respectively.
The top-15 drivers in qualifying surpassed the previous track record of
188.884 mph, set by Matt Kenseth one year ago.
Kenseth, the reigning Daytona 500 winner, qualified 11th.
Denny Hamlin, the current points leader and Phoenix race winner, will start
17th.
Scott Riggs and Robby Gordon failed to qualify.
Sunday's 400-mile race at Las Vegas is scheduled to start just after 3 p.m.
(ET).
The Sports Network