Kurt Busch

Kurt Busch called it “an amazing swing of events.” One day after crashing his primary car during practice, the Penske Racing driver raced his way to the pole for Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway.

Forced to go to a backup car after he made contact with the wall during the second practice session Friday, Busch nailed down his 14th career pole, and his second consecutive No. 1 starting spot, with a lap of 171.579 mph Saturday under overcast skies at the 2.5-mile track.

“Quite a bit of emotions today, especially [after] having to bust out the backup car from yesterday’s mishap,” the 32-year-old Busch said. “To go out there today ... the weather held out [and] we’re up on the pole.”

Paul Menard (Richard Childress Racing), Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports), Denny Hamlin (Joe Gibbs Racing) and Regan Smith (Furniture Row Racing) completed the top five.

Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	22	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	171.579	52.454	Leader
2	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Pittsburgh Paints / Menards	171.422	52.502	-0.048
3	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	171.350	52.524	-0.070
4	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	171.174	52.578	-0.124
5	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	171.165	52.581	-0.127
6	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Kellogg's / Cheez-it	171.057	52.614	-0.160
7	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	170.836	52.682	-0.228
8	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	170.532	52.776	-0.322
9	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	170.348	52.833	-0.379
10	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance / GoDaddy.com	170.200	52.879	-0.425
11	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS "We Love Logistics"	170.177	52.886	-0.432
12	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	170.126	52.902	-0.448
13	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald's	169.908	52.970	-0.516
14	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	169.872	52.981	-0.527
15	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Mobil 1 / Office Depot	169.856	52.986	-0.532
16	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	169.702	53.034	-0.580
17	4	Kasey Kahne	Toyota	Red Bull	169.671	53.044	-0.590
18	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Clorox / Kleenex	169.607	53.064	-0.610
19	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	169.520	53.091	-0.637
20	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	169.501	53.097	-0.643
21	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Amp Energy	169.447	53.114	-0.660
22	46	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Red Line Oil	169.444	53.115	-0.661
23	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	169.441	53.116	-0.662
24	71	Andy Lally*	Ford	TRG Motorsports	169.370	53.138	-0.684
25	51	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit	169.307	53.158	-0.704
26	38	Sam Hornish Jr.	Ford	Long John Silver's	169.278	53.167	-0.713
27	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Affliction Clothing: Live Fast	169.224	53.184	-0.730
28	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Medallion Financial	169.176	53.199	-0.745
29	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves	169.170	53.201	-0.747
30	34	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	169.119	53.217	-0.763
31	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	169.113	53.219	-0.765
32	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Okuma	169.084	53.228	-0.774
33	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	168.932	53.276	-0.822
34	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	168.890	53.289	-0.835
35	13	Casey Mears	Toyota	GEICO	168.666	53.360	-0.906
36	66	Michael McDowell	Toyota	HP Racing LLC	168.218	53.502	-1.048
37	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	167.773	53.644	-1.190
38	37	Tony Raines	Ford	Black Cat Fireworks	167.395	53.765	-1.311
39	181	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	WhitneysCollision.com	167.264	53.807	-1.353
40	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	Golden Corral	167.057	53.874	-1.420
41	32	Mike Bliss	Ford	U.S. Chrome / Southern Pride Trucking	166.867	53.935	-1.481
42	7	Scott Wimmer+	Dodge	Speed Energy / Harris Teeter	162.414	55.414	-2.960
43	150	T.J. Bell*	Toyota	Green Smoke	166.633	54.011	-1.557
.	.	Did Not Qualify	.	.	.	.	.
44	60	Mike Skinner	Toyota	Big Red	164.902	54.578	-2.124

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie