Busch shatters record in New Hampshire

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch didn't just break the track record at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he obliterated it by 1.633 mph in Coors Light Pole qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV Sales 301.

"(The lap) didn't feel that good, but it felt good," said Busch, who finished second in both Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire last year. "It was real stable, real comfortable. The car turned well (in Turns 3 and 4)."

After finishing 25th or worse in four of the last six races, Busch could use a good result to get back on track. Ninth in points, he is in good shape to make the Chase with a win in the fifth race of the season at Auto Club Speedway.
"This has been a good place for us," Busch said. "We've been close here. The second race here last year we were a lot better on the long runs but the race was just a little too short for us."

Neither Brian Vickers nor Matt Kenseth who won the 2013 Sprint Cup races at New Hampshire made it to the second and final round of qualifying on Friday.

Jimmie Johnson's Hendrick Chevrolet joined Busch's Toyota on the front row, qualifying at 137.790 mph, also considerably faster than Ryan Newman's record (136.497) set last September.

"To come out for our second session on older tires and improve by over two-tenths of a second is something to be proud of," Johnson said. "Of course we want to get the pole. But this helps make the weekend so much easier to race. You get a good pit stall, good track position and you can fine tune from here. This is such a scrappy track. It's tough to complete a pass here."

Busch's Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin will also have the benefit of starting near the front. Hamlin became the 13th driver to set a track record in the first 30-minute session and turned the third-fastest lap.

"Our cars have got some speed here," said Hamlin, who will be joined on the second row by Tony Stewart. The Stewart-Haas Chevrolet was the provisional pole-sitter as eight of the 12 drivers in the final round waited for their cars to cool and a cloud to obscure the sun before taking their best shots in the final 3:30 of qualifying.

Jamie McMurray (Chevrolet) qualified fifth and Joey Logano (Ford) sixth. Logano turned the second-fastest lap in the first round of knockout qualifying, despite being forced to a backup car.

Logano had just five minutes of practice in his backup Fusion after blowing a left rear tire and tagging the Turn 1 wall in the morning practice. "The same exact thing happened in this race last year," Logano said. "It's a bummer because I felt like our car was pretty good. Hopefully, the other one is just as good."

Results

Pos CAR DRIVER MANUFACTURER SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 138.130 27.574 Leader
2 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 137.790 27.642 –0.068
3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Freight 137.081 27.785 –0.211
4 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Mobil 1 137.076 27.786 –0.212
5 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet McDonald's 137.017 27.798 –0.224
6 22 Joey Logano Ford AutoTrader.com 136.815 27.839 –0.265
7 2 Brad Keselowski Ford Redds 136.805 27.841 –0.267
8 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 5-Hour Energy 136.702 27.862 –0.288
9 78 Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet Furniture Row 136.629 27.877 –0.303
10 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet Great Clips/Shark Week 136.174 27.970 –0.396
11 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet Drive to End Hunger 136.058 27.994 –0.420
12 4 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Budweiser 135.912 28.024 –0.450
13 42 Kyle Larson Chevrolet Target 136.384 27.927 –0.353
14 99 Carl Edwards Ford Fastenal 136.296 27.945 –0.371
15 20 Matt Kenseth Toyota Dollar General 136.257 27.953 –0.379
16 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet Duracell / Menards 136.257 27.953 –0.379
17 55 Brian Vickers Toyota Aaron's Dream Machine 136.223 27.960 –0.386
18 41 Kurt Busch Chevrolet Haas Automation 136.184 27.968 –0.394
19 43 Aric Almirola Ford Charter 136.170 27.971 –0.397
20 47 AJ Allmendinger Chevrolet Kingsford Charcoal 136.150 27.975 –0.401
21 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford DeWalt 136.116 27.982 –0.408
22 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr Ford Wegmans/Cargill 135.922 28.022 –0.448
23 3 Austin Dillon Chevrolet Dow 135.820 28.043 –0.469
24 31 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Caterpillar 135.718 28.064 –0.490
25 51 Justin Allgaier Chevrolet AccuDoc Solutions 135.487 28.112 –0.538
26 34 David Ragan Ford Taco Bell 135.385 28.133 –0.559
27 16 Greg Biffle Ford NESN 30th Anniverary Fusion 135.304 28.150 –0.576
28 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet National Guard 135.217 28.168 –0.594
29 10 Danica Patrick Chevrolet GoDaddy 135.117 28.189 –0.615
30 66 Jeff Burton Toyota Let's Go Places Toyota Camry 135.117 28.189 –0.615
31 13 Casey Mears Chevrolet No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS 134.667 28.283 –0.709
32 98 Josh Wise Chevrolet Phil Parsons Racing 134.435 28.332 –0.758
33 38 David Gilliland Ford Long John Silver's 134.288 28.363 –0.789
34 40 Landon Cassill Chevrolet Newtown Building Supplies 133.614 28.506 –0.932
35 26 Cole Whitt Toyota TapOut Muscle Recovery Toyota Camry 133.576 28.514 –0.940
36 23 Alex Bowman Toyota Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry 133.254 28.583 –1.009
37 36 Reed Sorenson Chevrolet TBA 133.217 28.591 –1.017
38 83 Ryan Truex Toyota Burger King Toyota Camry 132.177 28.816 –1.242
39 7 Michael Annett Chevrolet Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet 131.719 28.916 –1.342
40 32 Eddie MacDonald Ford TryAudrozene.com 131.560 28.951 –1.377
41 93 Mike Bliss Toyota Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry 130.779 29.124 –1.550
42 87 Timmy Hill Toyota Royal Teak Collection 129.379 29.439 –1.865
43 33 Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet Thunder Coal 127.885 29.783 –2.209

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