Johnson on pole for Coke 600

Six-Time champion Jimmie Johnson has scored pole position for the longest race in NASCAR, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Johnson won the Coors Light Pole Award in the only Thursday’s qualifying session of the season and was held during the evening.

It is Johnson’s first pole of the season and his fourth at the track.

Incredibly Johnson is still to win a race this season and that will be mandatory if he is to fight for the championship under the rules where only race winners qualify for ‘The Chase.’

“It certainly shows that we’re going to be strong this weekend,” Johnson said.

“I don’t know that it sends the same message that winning two or three races will send. But I would love to rattle off two or three wins and have people fear the No. 48 as they have in the past. I don’t think a pole position does that to the garage area, but you have to start somewhere.”

Lining up second on Sunday will be Team Penske driver Brad Keselowski.

At the end of the second round, Danica Patrick was fastest, but after the third round she finished fourth and will line up next to Kasey Kahne. Clint Bowyer rounds out the starting top five.

Australia’s Marcos Ambrose will have a strong starting spot from ninth.

“That was pretty good. We’re a real race team,” said Ambrose.

“We had a tough practice and made some big changes to the car and showed our strength today by getting to the last qualifying group. I wanted to be high on the grid, but I’ll take it.

“If you told me I was gonna start top-10 I would have taken it before the session started, so I’m pretty pleased. We have a great shot at it on Sunday night and I’m looking forward to it.”

Kurt Busch, who will be doing the double with the Indianapolis 500, qualified 28th. However, he will start off the back as he will not be able to attend the driver’s meeting prior to the race as he will still be returning from Indy.

The Coca-Cola 600 will be run mid-morning Australian Eastern Time.

VIDEO: Jimmie Johnson on pole for Coke 600

 

QUALIFYING: Coca-Cola 600 – Charlotte Motor Speedway

POS	Car #	Driver	Make	Sponsor	MPH	Best Time	Behind
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s Patriotic	194.911	27.705	Leader
2	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	Miller Lite	194.567	27.754	–0.049
3	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance/Thankamillionteachers.com	193.618	27.890	–0.185
4	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	GoDaddy	193.334	27.931	–0.226
5	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	Cherry 5-Hour ENERGY for Special Ops Warrior Foundation	193.244	27.944	–0.239
6	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Office	193.119	27.962	–0.257
7	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	193.092	27.966	–0.261
8	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Pennzoil Platinum	192.472	28.056	–0.351
9	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Twisted Tea	191.673	28.173	–0.468
10	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	National Guard/Superman	191.272	28.232	–0.527
11	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser Folds of Honor	193.959	27.841	–0.136
12	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	Home Depot Husky	192.898	27.994	–0.289
13	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	United States Air Force	192.692	28.024	–0.319
14	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	192.486	28.054	–0.349
15	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	192.438	28.061	–0.356
16	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	192.027	28.121	–0.416
17	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	Hendrickcars.com	191.945	28.133	–0.428
18	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops-Mobil 1 Chevrolet	191.925	28.136	–0.431
19	33	Brian Scott	Chevrolet	Shore Lodge	191.884	28.142	–0.437
20	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Bush Beans	191.829	28.150	–0.445
21	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Serta / Menards	191.707	28.168	–0.463
22	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	189.980	28.424	–0.719
23	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	Fastenal	189.208	28.540	–0.835
24	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Fastenal	184.344	29.293	–1.588
25	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Target	190.840	28.296	–0.591
26	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	CESSNA	190.255	28.383	–0.678
27	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	189.673	28.470	–0.765
28	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Haas Automation Made in America	189.553	28.488	–0.783
29	23	Alex Bowman	Toyota	Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry	189.514	28.494	–0.789
30	95	Michael McDowell	Ford	JPO Absorbents	189.148	28.549	–0.844
31	26	Cole Whitt	Toyota	Speed Stick Toyota Camry	189.115	28.554	–0.849
32	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Cheerios	189.062	28.562	–0.857
33	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Love’s Travel Stops	188.732	28.612	–0.907
34	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS	188.534	28.642	–0.937
35	34	David Ragan	Ford	Taco Bell	188.455	28.654	–0.949
36	83	Ryan Truex	Toyota	Burger King Toyota	188.422	28.659	–0.954
37	98	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	Phil Parsons Racing	188.258	28.684	–0.979
38	66	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	Testoril	187.963	28.729	–1.024
39	7	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	Pilot Flying J Chevrolet	187.806	28.753	–1.048
40	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	Hillman Racing	187.559	28.791	–1.086
41	36	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	TBA	187.207	28.845	–1.140
42	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Quicken Loans	186.890	28.894	–1.189
43	32	Blake Koch	Ford	SupportMilitary.org	185.931	29.043	–1.338