Kasey Kahne takes pole at Talladega, lineup for race

Kasey Kahne, driver of the No.5 Hendrick Cars Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports is the pole sitter for Sunday’s Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kahne had a lap time of 50.017, which was 0.081  enough to beat out Ryan Newman for his third pole of the 2012 season. Kahne has been on the pole 25 times in his career, but this is the first time on a restrictor plate track like Dega’.

“We’ve tried for a long time to win one here, and it just shows how awesome that car is,” Kahne said. “We have some fast cars this weekend.”

Clint Bowyer, who is a favorite and has good history at Talladega qualified in third position, giving him an advantage he wasn’t expecting.

“I’m blown away, shocked that we’re top three,” Bowyer said. “We haven’t been qualifying very good on these restrictor-plate tracks, and today it definitely caught me off guard.”

Six of the twelve drivers in the Chase are starting in the top ten. Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jimmie Johnson, Denny Hamlin, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski are all starting between 15th and 23rd but at a track that guarantees a lot of passing that shouldn’t hinder the chasers all too much.

Another note is Michael Waltrip is in the No.55 Aaron’s Dream Machine this weekend. He is starting in 11th position.

Only 43 cars showed up for the race this weekend meaning there were no “go or go home” drivers. Drivers in red are NSCS “Chase” drivers.

Full Racing Lineup for Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500

  1. Kasey Kahne
  2. Ryan Newman
  3. Clint Bowyer
  4. Tony Stewart
  5. Greg Biffle
  6. Jeff Gordon
  7. Carl Edwards
  8. Trevor Bayne
  9. Martin Truex Jr.
  10. Sam Hornish Jr.
  11. Michael Waltrip
  12. Dale Earnhardt Jr.
  13. Kyle Busch
  14. Joey Logano
  15. Matt Kenseth
  16. Paul Menard
  17. Jimmie Johnson
  18. Aric Almirola
  19. Casey Mears
  20. Marcos Ambrose
  21. Kevin Harvick
  22. Brad Keselowski
  23. Denny Hamlin
  24. Jamie McMurray
  25. David Ragan
  26. Jeff Burton
  27. Juan Pablo Montoya
  28. Regan Smith
  29. Kurt Busch
  30. David Stremme
  31. Terry Labonte
  32. David Gilliland
  33. Josh Wise
  34. Michael McDowell
  35. Timmy Hill
  36. Travis Kvapil
  37. Joe Nemechek
  38. Landon Cassill
  39. Dave Blaney
  40. Bobby Labonte
  41. David Reutimann
  42. Cole Whitt
  43. Robert Richardson

 

Photo Source: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images North America

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