Denny Hamlin No.11 FedEx Ground Toyota has the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Quicken Loans Race for Heroes 500 race at Phoenix International Raceway. His Coors Light Pole Qualifying lap was 142.113 mph/35.332 seconds. It is his third pole this season, and 20th pole in 325 starts, tying Neil Bonnett and Benny Parsons for thirty-fifth on the all-time series pole list.
Second was Brad Keselowski No.2 Miller Lite Ford, only 0.006 seconds/0.034 mph behind. They were the only two drivers going more than 142 mph.
Third through fifth were Kevin Harvick No.4 Budweiser Chevrolet; Joey Logano No.22 Shell Pennzoil Toyota, who led much of Round One; and Matt Kenseth No.20 Dollar General Toyota.
Sixth through twelfth were: Jeff Gordon No.24 Axtalta Chevrolet; Rookie Kyle Larson No.41 Target Chevrolet; Brian Vickers No.55 Aaron’s Dream Machine; Kurt Busch No.41 Haas Automation Chevrolet; Paul Menard No.27 Richmond/Menards Chevrolet and Casey Mears No.13 GEICO Chevrolet.
Qualifying was run in two Rounds. The first round was for all 44 drivers, with the Second Round being for the top twelve qualifiers.
The official Grid will be released Sunday morning.
The slowest driver overall was Mike Wallace No.66 Toyota; but he will race, as Clay Rogers No.75 DNQ despite Rogers running faster than three other drivers.
In Round Two, Kenseth, Keselowski and Harvick all had a turn, albeit briefly, at being the fastest after Long-Lasting Logano led for much of the session.
Logano led qualifying nearly the entire first round, with a speed of 142.141 mph/25.327 seconds. He broke the track qualifying record, eclipsing the record of 139.384 mph set in February by Keselowski.
Second through fifth in Round One were Hamlin, Keselowski, Larson and Harvick.
Sixth through twelfth in Round One were Gordon; Vickers; Kyle Busch No.18 Banfield Pet Hospital Toyota; Kenseth; Kurt Busch; Menard; and Mears.
Six of the Round One are still in The Chase – Logano, Hamlin, Keselowski, Harvick, Gordon, and Kenseth.
After all was said and done, there was a power failure on Pit Lane and in the Media Center. The Power of the Press Prevailed, but the start of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race was delayed.