NASCAR Sprint-Cup Series
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CUP: Biffle Nails Down Darlington Pole
Greg Biffle earned the 11th pole of his career and second of 2012...
Tom Jensen  |  Posted May 11, 2012   Darlington, SC
NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Greg Biffle won the pole for tomorrow night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Darlington Raceway.

In the midst of a career year, Biffle was the penultimate driver to go out and put down a lap of 180.257 miles per hour, the only driver to crack the 180 mph barrier. It was his 11th career pole and second of the season.

Enjoying the best start to a season in his Sprint Cup career, Biffle was ecstatic after his pole run and said he expects to make a serious championship run in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford.

“I certainly think we’re gonna be a tough competitor all year, a tough customer,” Biffle said. “I’ll be honest with you, I was a little nervous coming here because last year we didn’t run that good here, the year before we ran OK, and the car just wasn’t in the race track and I struggled with that.”

Biffle used that struggle to help turn things around this time.

“I knew what I needed to do different and how I needed the car to turn a little bit differently around the corner and what I was looking for setup-wise, so we really focused on that and I got the car driving really, really good,” he said. “So coming back here I think I had a better car, a better platform to start out.”

Biffle will be flanked on Row 1 by five-time series champion Jimmie Johnson.

Johnson, who has run well at every non-restrictor-plate track this season, ran 179.566 miles per hour in his familiar No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. His teammate Kasey Kahne ran an identical speed, but Johnson will start ahead of Kahne based on points. Kahne was been hot of late, with four consecutive top-10 finishes and back-to-back top fives.

“It was just a great lap,” said Johnson, who is looking for his first victory of the season and the 200th for car owner Rick Hendrick. “We have been working hard on the car all day. It had a lot of comfort and speed in it.”

Kahne will start on the inside of Row 2 and was pleased by his lap as well.

“It was a lot better than where we were in practice,” said Kahne. “I think the guys did a nice job preparing a little better. We will have to see what happens in the race now. I think we definitely made some gains though.”

Behind the Hendrick duo was the Stewart-Haas Racing Chevy of Ryan Newman, fourth fast at 179.461 mph. Then came the Toyotas of Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr.

Completing the top 10 were Carl Edwards, Denny Hamlin, last year’s winner Regan Smith and Jeff Burton. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 24th and Danica Patrick 38th.

Biffle is the points leader by a margin of 7 over teammate Matt Kenseth and 9 over Dale Earnhardt Jr.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100.
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