Biffle squeezes Johnson off pole at Darlington

Greg Biffle

Sprint Cup Series points leader Greg Biffle saved the best for last and spoiled a Hendrick Motorsports-sweep of the front row with a late-session pole winning run in Friday’s qualifying to capture the top starting spot for Saturday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway

Biffle took to the track as the second-to-last qualifier and clicked off a lap to knock Jimmie Johnson off the pole and knock Kasey Kahne to third to break up what would have been an all-Hendrick Motorsports front row, tallying his second pole of the season and 11th of his career.

Ryan Newman and Kyle Busch rounded out the top five qualifiers.

Biffle’s pole-winning effort was the second of his career at Darlington, where he has two victories under his belt in 2005 and 2006.

“It was a great lap," said Biffle. “I love this race track. The fans down here are
great and I can’t wait for a great race tomorrow night.

“I don’t think there’s such a thing as a perfect lap here. I was in and out of the
gas down there in turn one and two, and in three and four I felt I drove it in as far as I could and the car stuck really good, so I thought maybe I didn’t get enough, but when I came by and they told me it was the front row, I was pretty happy."

Johnson was looking to rebound from his disappointing DNF finish last weekend at Talladega, hoping to score his first Darlington victory since 2004.

“We’ve had a very productive day. We put up a good time off the truck," said Johnson. “I knew that I left a little time on the table down there, and (pole winner) Greg (Biffle) certainly went down there and found it. I was watching. He had a blistering fast 3 and 4, and came back around and got us. I wish it was a Hendrick front row, but it was a solid day all in all."

Martin Truex, Jr. will start sixth, followed by Carl Edwards and Denny Hamlin. Defending race winner Regan Smith will roll off ninth ahead of Jeff Burton.

Scott Riggs, Michael McDowell, Stephen Leicht and Mike Bliss failed to make the field.

Lineup

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie