Kahne wins Quicken Loans 400 pole

Kasey Kahne

With a lap of 201.992 mph, Kasey Kahne won the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday's Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan International Speedway. The driver of the #5 Great Clips Chevrolet edged out reigning Sprint Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick by 0.067 seconds to score his 18th career NSCS pole.

Harvick was followed by Michigan native Brad Keselowski, Carl Edwards and Ryan Blaney making his 6th start of 2015 in the #21 Motorcraft Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Wood Brothers Ford.

The Sprint Cup Series will be back in action for practice tomorrow at 9 a.m. ET, with the Quicken Loans 400 set for Sunday at 1 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – POLE WINNER

TALK ABOUT THE MINDSET NOW THAT YOU HAVE A FAST RACE CAR, A GREAT RACE TEAM, YOU ARE HUNGRY FOR A WIN, JUST TALK ABOUT HOW ALL THOSE THINGS ARE PLAYING A ROLE RIGHT NOW:
“Definitely a strong car today. The Great Clips Chevrolet was strong in practice this morning and right there all three rounds it felt really good, really comfortable with the car. I made a little mistake there into (Turn) 3 on the final lap and over drove the entry because I felt like I could. I realized I couldn’t so I had to get it back real quick and was still able to run the lap. It just felt like we had a great car all day to this point and tomorrow is a big day to prepare for Sunday. This is a big start to the weekend it has been a long time since I had a pole, like you said, I think 2012. In the past it seemed way easier to win poles. The last three years have been more difficult for some reason to qualify first. But we were able to do that today and hopefully this will propel us into a good Sunday and also more poles and things throughout the season."

DO YOU EXPECT PASSING TO BE DIFFICULT HERE?
“It’s tough to say at this point. I think tomorrow’s race, today’s race with a different rubber is probably not going to change a lot of the race track. But tomorrow’s race we will learn a lot on how wide the track is. Last year was the first year that I felt we could run the bottom in (Turns) 1 and 2 and not be really slow. You actually could make some passes down there, make some gains. In (Turns) 3 and 4 you have been able to do that for the last couple of years. That was a benefit last year. I think tomorrow will be the same and then maybe it will even widen out and get wider towards the top of the race track like it used to be. That is what I’m hoping for. If it’s like that, yeah, we will be able to pass. We will be able to draft up and make moves if you have that momentum. But it’s really tough to say exactly how that is going to go because the off throttle time right now is not very much. It’s going to need to be more and I think as the track gets rubbered in and tires get hot you will see more lifting and at that point hopefully we will pass more."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]YOU HAVE KNOWN KEITH RODDEN FOR A LONG TIME, BUT THIS IS YOUR FIRST POLE TOGETHER. WHAT HAVE BEEN THE GOOD THINGS, THE BAD THINGS AND WHAT HAS THE PROCESS BEEN LIKE WORKING WITH HIM AS CREW CHIEF?
“I think really it’s all been good to this point. Keith (Rodden, crew chief) is a great guy. He puts a lot of time into his racecars. He is really good to his guys. We have enjoyed it. Just taking the picture at the car over there we were laughing with jokes coming from Keith and stuff. He is just a good guy. He is really smart and he puts a lot into his cars and tries to find the speed that we need. He will tell you if you made a mistake, but at the same time he will tell you if he needed to do a better job as well. You can’t be any better than that because I’m the same way. I will tell him when I made a mistake and be like ‘man we needed the car better at the same time.’ I like every part of what Keith has done to this point, working with him and also what he has done with our team and how he works with the guys. It has been good. I think it’s going to pay off as the season goes."

YOU HAVE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO TEST THE PROPOSED AERO PACKAGE THAT THEY ARE TALKING ABOUT RUNNING AT KENTUCKY. FROM THE DRIVER’S SEAT WHAT HAS THAT PACKAGE FELT LIKE?

“Well if you are talking about the Charlotte test I did earlier in the year we spent a little bit of time with that. I really liked it. I ran by myself and felt like it was the first time I could really drive the car, control the car, lift and do things to make the car work, rather than just run super hard all the time like what we are doing. I liked that, but that is how when I came into the sport, that is how it was. You drove more with both feet. You found speed in different spots of the corner and you weren’t wide open. I’ve always kind of had that … that is how I’ve raced. I don’t know the differences. I think as time has changed it has been something for me to try to learn. I want to learn whatever NASCAR has us race, but I look forward to doing something different. I look forward to if that is the direction they go I think it will be great. But we will all need to work on it for a while to make it the best that it can be. Then we will see kind of where that stands with what we have today."

WHY DO YOU THINK IT’S BECOME SO MUCH HARDER TO WIN A POLE?
“I think the competition is much closer. I think the drivers, the teams are better than what they used to be. A lot of times a tenth separates 15 cars. I don’t remember it being quite like that when I first came into the sport when poles seemed to be easier to win at that time. I just think it is maybe a little bit of a feel in the car. There are times when I’m not finding that feel that I need to find. It shows with (Martin) Truex for example. What he did last year and what he is doing this year. They just found some things that made him more comfortable in the car and he’s flying. He’s doing an awesome job, that whole team is. But they didn’t have that last year. It was something they found together and worked hard to find this year. Different things fit different people at different times. We are working hard to get to that point. We want to race those guys each week and we want to battle to lead laps and try to win races."

THIS TRACK IS KNOWN FOR TRACK RECORD QUALIFYING SPEEDS. WHAT ARE SOME OF THE FACTORS THAT MAY HAVE AFFECTED SPEEDS THIS YEAR?
“Mainly just the power of the car, we have a lot less power. As far as driving and how much 100 percent throttle I was on, I will guarantee that was more today than what it was last year. It was just slower because you don’t have as much horsepower to run the speed around the track. As far as on the throttle 100 percent throttle I ran a lot more today than I’ve ever ran at Michigan."

WHAT IS YOUR CHANCE OF WINNING THIS WEEKEND?
“This is a great start. Starting up front, having the track position and having a great pit stall throughout the race which will help the pit guys. My pit crew has come a long ways this year and they are doing an awesome job each week so I look forward to coming down pit road and getting tires and adjustments, things like that. Doing a good job on restarts that will be key for me. If I’m getting good restarts and staying in the front, if we are in the first couple of rows staying where I’m at and not losing spots there, staying towards the front that will be key to being there late in the race and having a shot on that final restart or that final long run whatever it may be."

[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUDWEISER/JIMMY JOHN’S CHEVROLET SS – QUALIFIED 2ND

TALK ABOUT YOUR CAR AND HOW YOU THINK THINGS ARE GOING FOR YOU OUT THERE:
“They are going really good. We had solid practices, solid qualifying run there within a few hundredths of each run. Kasey (Kahne) was right there in the second round and put up a little bit better lap than we did. It’s still a good solid starting spot."

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WILL HAVE TO DO A LOT TO THE CAR TOMORROW TO TRY TO FIND WHAT YOU NEED FOR SUNDAY?
“I will tell you tomorrow. I have no idea. It’s been in qualifying trim all day."

DID ANYTHING GO WRONG WITH YOUR RUN IN THE FINAL ROUND OR WERE YOU JUST OUT MUSCLED BY THE NO. 5?
“The No. 5 doesn’t have any muscles, so I didn’t get out muscled (laughs). You know we ran a .77 in the first round and a .71 in the third round and a .64 in the second round. He was right there. I think he ran a .70 or .65 in the second round. He just got a little better lap."

IS THE TRACK GETTING ANY BETTER OR MORE COMPETITIVE? OR COULD YOU TELL FROM JUST YOUR PRACTICE AND QUALIFYING SESSIONS?
“For the most part it is still the same one groove that we have seen several times. I’m sure that will spread out as you get cars running and racing tomorrow and today. But today everybody was kind of in single car mode to run in the fastest groove. I think after you see the ARCA race… I mean the groove spread out nicely here last time and we were able to run lower, but the preferred groove is still the only groove with rubber on it right now."

Results

P # Driver Sponsor Speed Time Behind
1 5 Kasey Kahne Great Clips 201.992 35.645 Leader
2 4 Kevin Harvick Budweiser / Jimmy John's 201.613 35.712 –0.067
3 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite 201.449 35.741 –0.096
4 19 Carl Edwards Arris 201.067 35.809 –0.164
5 21 Ryan Blaney Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center 201.056 35.811 –0.166
6 24 Jeff Gordon Panasonic 200.988 35.823 –0.178
7 3 Austin Dillon American Ethanol 200.915 35.836 –0.191
8 48 Jimmie Johnson Kobalt Tools 200.658 35.882 –0.237
9 78 Martin Truex Jr Furniture Row/Visser Precision 200.579 35.896 –0.251
10 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Crispy 200.468 35.916 –0.271
11 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil 200.418 35.925 –0.280
12 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General 199.579 36.076 –0.431
13 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express 199.933 36.012 –0.367
14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr AMP ENERGY 199.928 36.013 –0.368
15 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 199.662 36.061 –0.416
16 42 Kyle Larson Target 199.435 36.102 –0.457
17 27 Paul Menard Moen / Menards 199.352 36.117 –0.472
18 55 David Ragan Aaron's Dream Machine 198.983 36.184 –0.539
19 10 Danica Patrick GoDaddy 198.462 36.279 –0.634
20 6 Trevor Bayne Advocare Ford Fusion 198.380 36.294 –0.649
21 16 Greg Biffle Safety-Kleen Ford Fusion 198.216 36.324 –0.679
22 33 Ty Dillon Nexium 24HR 198.183 36.330 –0.685
23 31 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans 198.129 36.340 –0.695
24 41 Kurt Busch Haas Automation 197.585 36.440 –0.795
25 1 Jamie McMurray McDonald's 196.727 36.599 –0.954
26 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield 196.694 36.605 –0.960
27 13 Casey Mears No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS 196.560 36.630 –0.985
28 7 Alex Bowman Racing-Rewards.com 196.415 36.657 –1.012
29 40 Landon Cassill Carsforsale.com 196.399 36.660 –1.015
30 9 Sam Hornish Jr Medallion Bank 195.716 36.788 –1.143
31 47 AJ Allmendinger Kroger/Hungry Jack 195.588 36.812 –1.167
32 15 Clint Bowyer Cherry 5-hour Energy benefiting Special Operations Warrior Foundation 195.578 36.814 –1.169
33 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Fastenal Ford Fusion 195.578 36.814 –1.169
34 38 David Gilliland Love's Travel Stops 195.487 36.831 –1.186
35 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J 194.679 36.984 –1.339
36 51 Justin Allgaier Switch Hitch 194.049 37.104 –1.459
37 34 Brett Moffitt Dockside Logistics 193.574 37.195 –1.550
38 26 Jeb Burton Maxim 193.538 37.202 –1.557
39 98 Josh Wise TBA 192.869 37.331 –1.686
40 35 Cole Whitt Speed Stick 192.859 37.333 –1.688
41 23 J.J. Yeley Dr Pepper 191.215 37.654 –2.009
42 32 Mike Bliss Skuttle Tight/CorvetteParts.net 190.491 37.797 –2.152
43 83 Matt DiBenedetto Burger King 189.608 37.973 –2.328

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