Kurt Busch makes it three poles in a row
Kurt Busch in his No. 22 Penske Dodge streaked around Michigan International Speedway in 38.156 seconds (188.699 mph) on Saturday, to win the pole for Sunday's Heluva Good! 400 Sprint Cup Series race at the 2-mile track.
The pole was the third in a row for Busch, who also won poles at Kansas and Pocono this month, and the 15th of his career. It was also the fourth consecutive pole for Penske Racing — Brad Keselowski started the streak at Charlotte in May.
Busch nipped David Reutimann (188.684 mph) by 0.003 seconds for the top starting spot in Sunday's race. Matt Kenseth (188.620 mph) qualified third, followed by Brian Vickers (188.157 mph) and Regan Smith (187.607 mph).
Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Denny Hamlin will start from positions six through 10, respectively. Trevor Bayne qualified 17th for his first Cup race since being sidelined by illness after the April 17 event at Talladega.
Tony Raines, Brian Keselowski and Mike Skinner failed to qualify for the 43-car field.
Lineup
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 188.699 | 38.156 | Leader |
| 2 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron's Dream Machine | 188.684 | 38.159 | -0.003 |
| 3 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 188.620 | 38.172 | -0.016 |
| 4 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 188.157 | 38.266 | -0.110 |
| 5 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 187.607 | 38.378 | -0.222 |
| 6 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 187.578 | 38.384 | -0.228 |
| 7 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | American Red Cross | 187.554 | 38.389 | -0.233 |
| 8 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 187.534 | 38.393 | -0.237 |
| 9 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Pittsburgh Paints / Menards | 187.485 | 38.403 | -0.247 |
| 10 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 187.436 | 38.413 | -0.257 |
| 11 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 187.393 | 38.422 | -0.266 |
| 12 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit | 187.232 | 38.455 | -0.299 |
| 13 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army 236th Birthday / Bud Moore NASCAR Hall of Fame | 187.227 | 38.456 | -0.300 |
| 14 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald's | 187.154 | 38.471 | -0.315 |
| 15 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy / National Guard | 187.130 | 38.476 | -0.320 |
| 16 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | RainEater / Advance Auto Parts | 187.062 | 38.490 | -0.334 |
| 17 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 187.032 | 38.496 | -0.340 |
| 18 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Dewalt | 187.023 | 38.498 | -0.342 |
| 19 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 186.969 | 38.509 | -0.353 |
| 20 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS "We Love Logistics" | 186.732 | 38.558 | -0.402 |
| 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools | 186.669 | 38.571 | -0.415 |
| 22 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 186.669 | 38.571 | -0.415 |
| 23 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 186.601 | 38.585 | -0.429 |
| 24 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Snickers | 186.567 | 38.592 | -0.436 |
| 25 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | "Cars 2" | 186.553 | 38.595 | -0.439 |
| 26 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 186.509 | 38.604 | -0.448 |
| 27 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 186.403 | 38.626 | -0.470 |
| 28 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Fellowship of Christian Athletes | 186.220 | 38.664 | -0.508 |
| 29 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | NEMCO Motorsports | 185.821 | 38.747 | -0.591 |
| 30 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 185.749 | 38.762 | -0.606 |
| 31 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 185.711 | 38.770 | -0.614 |
| 32 | 30 | David Stremme | Chevrolet | Inception Motorsports | 185.644 | 38.784 | -0.628 |
| 33 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 185.553 | 38.803 | -0.647 |
| 34 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Red Line Oil | 185.304 | 38.855 | -0.699 |
| 35 | 32 | Mike Bliss | Ford | blu Cigs | 185.252 | 38.866 | -0.710 |
| 36 | 71 | Andy Lally* | Ford | TRG Motorsports | 184.777 | 38.966 | -0.810 |
| 37 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy | 184.686 | 38.985 | -0.829 |
| 38 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 184.573 | 39.009 | -0.853 |
| 39 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 184.544 | 39.015 | -0.859 |
| 40 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 184.440 | 39.037 | -0.881 |
| 41 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 184.176 | 39.093 | -0.937 |
| 42 | 36 | Dave Blaney+ | Chevrolet | Golden Corral | 182.662 | 39.417 | -1.261 |
| 43 | 181 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | WhitneysCollision.com | 183.781 | 39.177 | -1.021 |
| . | . | Did Not Qualify | . | . | . | . | . |
| 44 | 37 | Tony Raines | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 183.744 | 39.185 | -1.029 |
| 45 | 192 | Brian Keselowski* | Dodge | K-Automotive Motorsports | 182.463 | 39.460 | -1.304 |
| 46 | 60 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Big Red | 181.538 | 39.661 | -1.505 |
+ Set by Owner Points