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Chicagoland NASCAR: Jimmie Johnson starts Chase with pole

Jimmie Johnson will start the NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase from pole position after leading Saturday's qualifying for the play-off opener at Chicagoland

The Hendrick Motorsports driver claimed his second pole of the season and his 11th for a Chase event. Johnson beat the previous benchmark set earlier in the session by Richard Petty's Aric Almirola by four hundredths of a second.

Johnson's run came halfway through qualifying and stood unbeaten after another 24 cars completed their runs.

Although Johnson had a previous pole at Chicagoland, he had never started the Chase opener from the top spot. On Sunday he kicks off his quest for a sixth Cup title from the best possible position.

"It's a great start obviously for the weekend, track position is so important and pit road is as everyone knows," said Johnson. "We did everything good today, which I'm excited about.

"We've been saying all along that we're ready for this Chase to start and to go out and prove it today was a step in the right direction."

Almirola was the best of four non Chasers who qualified among the top 10. Roush Fenway's Matt Kenseth and Hendrick's Dale Earnhardt Jr will start from the second row of the grid, ahead of their respective team-mates Carl Edwards and Kasey Kahne - the latter among the most consistent in Friday's final practice.

Chase leader Denny Hamlin was eighth fastest in qualifying and was the only play-off contender who ranked among the top five in both of Friday's practice sessions, which were each led by Michael Waltrip's Martin Truex Jr and Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Kyle Busch.

Reigning champion Tony Stewart was only 29th fastest but fellow Chaser Kevin Harvick was the slowest of the title contenders, finishing the session in 35th.

Trevor Bayne was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 14th while Scott Riggs, Reed Sorenson, JJ Yeley and Jason Leffler failed to make the field.

Click here for AUTOSPORT's analysis of the 12 Chase contenders' title prospects

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           29.530s
 2.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   29.567s  + 0.037s
 3.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            29.616s  + 0.086s
 4.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           29.659s  + 0.129s
 5.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            29.663s  + 0.133s
 6.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.675s  + 0.145s
 7.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      29.678s  + 0.148s
 8.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.682s  + 0.152s
 9.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               29.694s  + 0.164s
10.  Joey Logano         Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.731s  + 0.201s
11.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          29.733s  + 0.203s
12.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  29.748s  + 0.218s
13.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 29.751s  + 0.221s
14.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford           29.776s  + 0.246s
15.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota               29.792s  + 0.262s
16.  Sam Hornish Jr      Penske Dodge                 29.793s  + 0.263s
17.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   29.826s  + 0.296s
18.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               29.836s  + 0.306s
19.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.855s  + 0.325s
20.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       29.879s  + 0.349s
21.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.883s  + 0.353s
22.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            29.913s  + 0.383s
23.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         29.923s  + 0.393s
24.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 29.954s  + 0.424s
25.  Scott Speed         Leavine Ford                 29.965s  + 0.435s
26.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                    29.980s  + 0.450s
27.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 29.992s  + 0.462s
28.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  30.010s  + 0.480s
29.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.018s  + 0.488s
30.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet            30.055s  + 0.525s
31.  David Stremme       Inception Toyota             30.071s  + 0.541s
32.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          30.072s  + 0.542s
33.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 30.077s  + 0.547s
34.  Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota        30.078s  + 0.548s
35.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          30.091s  + 0.561s
36.  Cole Whitt          Circle Sport Chevrolet       30.094s  + 0.564s
37.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               30.123s  + 0.593s
38.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    30.170s  + 0.640s
39.  TJ Bell             FAS Lane Ford                30.508s  + 0.978s
40.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               30.560s  + 1.030s
41.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.649s  + 1.119s
42.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            30.676s  + 1.146s
43.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               30.140s  + 0.610s

Did not qualify:

     Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                 30.291s  + 0.761s
     Reed Sorenson       Humphrey Smith Chevrolet     30.343s  + 0.813s
     JJ Yeley            Max Q Chevrolet              30.347s  + 0.817s
     Jason Leffler       Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     30.386s  + 0.856s

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