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Jeff Gordon and Kevin Harvick showed, that half-way through NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup, they are not about to give up.
Gordon the last driver to qualify, who stands fourth in the standings, put his Chevrolet SS on the pole in Charlotte at a speed of 194.308mph Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway).
Harvick, last week's winner from the pole at Kansas, was the next-to-last in the qualifying order, and had just posted a lap at 194.283 mph. Still Gordon bore down through turns three and four to take his nine pole at the 1.5 mile oval but with a scintillating trip through Turns 3 and 4, Gordon claimed his ninth Coors Light pole award at Charlotte and his second of the season by .015 seconds. It was Gordon's 74th career Sprint Cup pole.
Greg Biffle (193.959 mph) qualified third, followed by Jimmie Johnson (193.791 mph), Kasey Kahne (193.694 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (193.535 mph) and Ryan Newman (193.458 mph), as Chase drivers captured the top seven starting spots.
To Gordon, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 32 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, the pole was just another indication of his team's growing confidence as the Chase progresses.
“I can tell you, I'm feeling better every race,” Gordon said. “I thought that we really started making ground up the week prior to Richmond... Every week that we perform well and lead laps and run up front builds the confidence that we can win races and put together some great runs and get the points that we need.
“At this point, we're just going all-out, giving it everything we have. We're not really thinking about points. We're just trying to win races and get the best finishes that we can. Right now we're just having fun.”
Harvick, who is 25 points behind Kenseth (who qualified 20th) said “we're racing in the thick of a championship, and qualifying well was a huge benefit for us last week, with the first pit stall. Obviously, we wanted to be greedy and get that again tonight.”
Brian Scott, Kyle Larson and Blake Koch — all making their Cup debuts — earned the 19th, 21st and 43rd starting positions, respectively.
Gordon the last driver to qualify, who stands fourth in the standings, put his Chevrolet SS on the pole in Charlotte at a speed of 194.308mph Thursday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway).
Harvick, last week's winner from the pole at Kansas, was the next-to-last in the qualifying order, and had just posted a lap at 194.283 mph. Still Gordon bore down through turns three and four to take his nine pole at the 1.5 mile oval but with a scintillating trip through Turns 3 and 4, Gordon claimed his ninth Coors Light pole award at Charlotte and his second of the season by .015 seconds. It was Gordon's 74th career Sprint Cup pole.
Greg Biffle (193.959 mph) qualified third, followed by Jimmie Johnson (193.791 mph), Kasey Kahne (193.694 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (193.535 mph) and Ryan Newman (193.458 mph), as Chase drivers captured the top seven starting spots.
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| Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet SS. (Photo: NASCAR) |
To Gordon, who is fourth in the Chase standings, 32 points behind leader Matt Kenseth, the pole was just another indication of his team's growing confidence as the Chase progresses.
“I can tell you, I'm feeling better every race,” Gordon said. “I thought that we really started making ground up the week prior to Richmond... Every week that we perform well and lead laps and run up front builds the confidence that we can win races and put together some great runs and get the points that we need.
“At this point, we're just going all-out, giving it everything we have. We're not really thinking about points. We're just trying to win races and get the best finishes that we can. Right now we're just having fun.”
Harvick, who is 25 points behind Kenseth (who qualified 20th) said “we're racing in the thick of a championship, and qualifying well was a huge benefit for us last week, with the first pit stall. Obviously, we wanted to be greedy and get that again tonight.”
Brian Scott, Kyle Larson and Blake Koch — all making their Cup debuts — earned the 19th, 21st and 43rd starting positions, respectively.