CUP: Johnson Draws First Blood

Sprint Cup

CUP: Johnson Draws First Blood

Jimmie Johnson captured the pole for Sunday’s AAA Texas 500…

Tom Jensen | Posted November 02, 2012 Fort Worth, TX

Points leader Jimmie Johnson got a huge leg up on his sixth NASCAR Sprint Cup championship, as he will start on the pole in Sunday’s AAA Texas 500 at Texas Motor Speedway, the eighth of 10 races in the Chase for the Sprint Cup.

Brad Keselowski, who is 2 points behind Johnson, qualified eighth.

The pole was the second in a row, fourth of the year and 29th of Johnson’s career.

Johnson was the 20th driver to go out and he put down a staggering lap of 191.076 miles per hour in his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. His lap was 0.529 seconds quicker than any of the first 19 cars out, an eternity in NASCAR qualifying.

“I knew it was going to be a challenging lap, and I went in there committed and drove probably the most exciting lap I’ve had in a long, long time and brought it around for the pole, so I’m very, very pleased,” said Johnson, who was just 27th fastest in the day’s earlier practice session.

For the remainder of the session, Johnson refused to get out of his car — an old racing superstition — as he watched the rest of the field qualify.

“I tried this philosophy at Martinsville,” said Johnson. “I don’t know if it really works, but it kind of works, so I figured I’d just stay in there the whole time.”

Greg Biffle ran 190.382 mph in his No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and was on the pole until Turn 4, when he lost a little time, ending his lap in second place, 0.103 seconds behind Johnson. “I blew that one,” said Biffle. “Oh, man. Good car. … I just didn’t have enough commitment to push the gas down and hold it.”

Starting on Row 2 will be a pair of Toyotas, with Kyle Busch qualifying third in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry, flanked by Clint Bowyer in the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Camry.

Bowyer’s teammate, Martin Truex Jr., qualified fifth, followed by Joey Logano in a second JGR car and Trevor Bayne’s Wood Brothers Racing Ford.

Keselowski went out 44th of 46 cars and qualified at 189.534 mph in his Penske Racing Dodge, which put him eighth on the grid. Given that in the four previous races, his average start was 24.75, Keselowski was ecstatic about his run.

“It feels like the pole,” said Keselowski. “It might not be, but it feels like the pole for us. Our car has had a ton of speed in race trim since we’ve been here, but qualifying trim has been our weak point. So I think that bodes very well for us come Sunday.”

With just three races left in the 2012 season, Johnson holds a narrow 2-point lead over Keselowski. Bowyer is 26 points back, while Kasey Kahne is 29 in arrears. And while Bowyer and Kahne certainly are long shots to win the title, no one behind them is in contention for the championship.

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.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Tom Jensen

MORE BY THIS AUTHOR

AUTOS: Score One For Cadillac
Cadillac has truly knocked it out of the ballpark with the stunning…
CUP: Dover Power Rankings
Despite a rare and costly mistake, Jimmie Johnson holds onto the…
CUP: Dover Sunday Notebook (Update 10)
Tony Stewart wins at Dover International Speedway...