Greg Biffle

Rhonda McCole/AR1.com

Greg Biffle turned in a record-setting lap on Thursday to win the NASCAR Sprint Cup Coors Light Pole for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Cool evening temperatures led to ideal track conditions for the late-evening qualifying session resulting in record speeds, as the top three qualifiers all topped the track record.

The “pucker factor” was in full effect Thursday night as Biffle skated his no. 16 Ford Fusion through turns three and four topping 200 mph, going on to post a lap of 193.708 mph to shatter the track record of 193.216 set by Elliott Sadler seven years ago.

Mark Martin qualified second with a lap of 193.361 mph for his 850th-career Sprint Cup start. Nine-time Charlotte pole winner and former record holder Ryan Newman was third with a lap of 193.251 mph. Clint Bowyer (193.043) and Jimmie Johnson (192.995) rounded out the top five.

Biffle’s pole-winning effort was the third of the season and 12th of his career, and his first at Charlotte Motor Speedway, where he has yet to record a Sprint Cup victory.

“That obviously is the fastest I’ve been around this race track, fast as anybody has, and it was a nerve-racking lap,” said Biffle. “I just couldn’t believe the speeds I was seeing and I knew when I went to take off that 29-flat was the time to beat.  I knew that I struggled to run a 29.40, so I knew it was gonna be tough to do and I just dug deep.  I drove it off into turn one and the car stuck really, really well.  Three and four is where I’d been struggling and I just committed to myself that I had to drive it in there far enough and get back to the gas quick to be a factor and try to be at the top.”

A victory here would go a long way toward ending the season on a high note. With five races left in the Chase, Biffle’s championship hopes are all but over, coming into this weekends race ninth in points, 49 points behind series leader Brad Keselowski

“We’re certainly not gonna give up,” said Biffle. “We’re gonna try to win here Saturday night, try to win next week and that’s all we can do is be in control of our own destiny and try to win these races.  Is it too late for us to get back in the hunt?  Probably.”

Mark Martin notched his 12th top-10 start of the season in just his 20th start driving a partial schedule for Michael Waltrip Racing. In addition to marking his 850th start milestone, Martin will be making his 56th-career Charlotte Motor Speedway start on Saturday night, dating back to 1982.

“Well, all I can tell you is how grateful I am to strap into something like that,” Martin said. “Just like when I was a kid, my hands shake. Going down into Turn One everything was dragging and scraping, and I knew it was fast.

“This is a special time in my life to get to do this. We continue to up the ante with every single piece of these race cars. We continually optimize these things. Today, the cars drive so much better than the older cars. They just keep making more horsepower and going faster and faster. For me, it’s the same as it always was. The question in my mind is, ‘Do I have it?’ During the lap it is like when I was a kid. That may be one of the things I will miss the most when I am not doing this anymore.”

Chase contenders Martin Truex, Jr. and Matt Kenseth qualified sixth and seventh respectively, followed by Kyle Busch in eighth. Denny Hamlin and Kasey Kahne, both Chase contenders, rounded out the top ten.

Among the other championship drivers, Kevin Harvick was 11th, Jeff Gordon qualified 13th and series points leader Brad Keselowski will start 20th. Tony Stewart is the deepest Chase driver in the field, starting in the 32nd position.

Drivers who failed to make the field include Joe Nemechek, Josh Wise, Scott Riggs and Cole Whitt.

Lineup

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M / IDG	193.708	27.877	Leader
2	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	193.361	27.927	-0.050
3	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Quicken Loans	193.251	27.943	-0.066
4	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-Hour Energy Benefiting Avon Foundation for Women	193.043	27.973	-0.096
5	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	MyLowe's	192.995	27.980	-0.103
6	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	192.919	27.991	-0.114
7	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Best Buy	192.885	27.996	-0.119
8	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	192.850	28.001	-0.124
9	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	192.802	28.008	-0.131
10	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Time Warner Cable	192.644	28.031	-0.154
11	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Jimmy Johns	192.637	28.032	-0.155
12	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	192.561	28.043	-0.166
13	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	192.212	28.094	-0.217
14	22	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	191.666	28.174	-0.297
15	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Scott Products	191.605	28.183	-0.306
16	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Good Sam Club / Camping World	191.293	28.229	-0.352
17	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Smithfield	191.286	28.230	-0.353
18	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	191.279	28.231	-0.354
19	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Kellogg's	191.245	28.236	-0.359
20	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	191.232	28.238	-0.361
21	78	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	191.225	28.239	-0.362
22	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target / Kellogg's	190.691	28.318	-0.441
23	195	Scott Speed	Ford	B&D Electrical	190.691	28.318	-0.441
24	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / Pittsburgh Paints	190.617	28.329	-0.452
25	34	David Ragan	Ford	Glory Foods	190.382	28.364	-0.487
26	88	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	AMP Energy / National Guard	190.181	28.394	-0.517
27	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	190.027	28.417	-0.540
28	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Plinker Tactical	190.027	28.417	-0.540
29	6	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	Best Buy	189.987	28.423	-0.546
30	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald's	189.867	28.441	-0.564
31	30	David Stremme	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	189.687	28.468	-0.591
32	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Mobil 1 / Office Depot	189.587	28.483	-0.606
33	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	K-Love / Curb Records	189.587	28.483	-0.606
34	10	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	189.520	28.493	-0.616
35	37	J.J. Yeley	Ford	MaxQworkforce.com	189.341	28.520	-0.643
36	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Glory Foods	189.255	28.533	-0.656
37	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	189.168	28.546	-0.669
38	51	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction	189.142	28.550	-0.673
39	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	188.469	28.652	-0.775
40	32	Timmy Hill	Ford	U.S. Chrome	188.225	28.689	-0.812
41	93	Travis Kvapil+	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	186.735	28.918	-1.041
42	36	Dave Blaney+	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	186.322	28.982	-1.105
43	191	Reed Sorenson	Toyota	Aquaria USA	189.102	28.556	-0.679
DNQ	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves	188.937	28.581	-0.704
DNQ	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	MDS Transport	187.123	28.858	-0.981
DNQ	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	184.988	29.191	-1.314
DNQ	33	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	Little Joes Autos.com	183.517	29.425	-1.548

+ Set by Owner Points