Darlington NASCAR: Kurt Busch takes surprise pole for Furniture Row
Kurt Busch upstaged the usual frontrunners to give NASCAR Sprint Cup underdog Furniture Row Racing pole position for Saturday night's Darlington race
The result was only Furniture Row's second ever Cup pole and its first since 2008.
Fresh from testing an Andretti Autosport IndyCar at Indianapolis on Thursday, Busch set a new track record at Darlington as he lapped in 27.032 seconds.
Furniture Row's only Cup-level victory also came at Darlington, with Regan Smith in 2011.
Kyle Busch had a shot at making it an all-Busch front row, but was unhappy with his lap and ended up third, between Hendrick pair Jimmie Johnson and Kasey Kahne. Martin Truex Jr compled the top five.
After his tentative return to action at Talladega a week ago, Denny Hamlin will try to run the full distance on Saturday. He certainly did not lack speed in qualifying, where he took sixth on the grid.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Kurt Busch Furniture Row Chevrolet 27.032s 2. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 27.173s + 0.141s 3. Kyle Busch Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.181s + 0.149s 4. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 27.208s + 0.176s 5. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 27.277s + 0.245s 6. Denny Hamlin Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.296s + 0.264s 7. Matt Kenseth Joe Gibbs Toyota 27.303s + 0.271s 8. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 27.304s + 0.272s 9. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 27.320s + 0.288s 10. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 27.355s + 0.323s 11. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 27.368s + 0.336s 12. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 27.376s + 0.344s 13. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 27.381s + 0.349s 14. Ricky Stenhouse Jr Roush Fenway Ford 27.394s + 0.362s 15. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 27.401s + 0.369s 16. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 27.410s + 0.378s 17. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 27.472s + 0.440s 18. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 27.500s + 0.468s 19. Casey Mears Germain Ford 27.501s + 0.469s 20. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 27.511s + 0.479s 21. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 27.550s + 0.518s 22. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 27.578s + 0.546s 23. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 27.593s + 0.561s 24. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 27.630s + 0.598s 25. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 27.631s + 0.599s 26. Brad Keselowski Penske Ford 27.633s + 0.601s 27. Regan Smith Phoenix Chevrolet 27.635s + 0.603s 28. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 27.669s + 0.637s 29. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 27.676s + 0.644s 30. Joey Logano Penske Ford 28.681s + 1.649s 31. David Ragan Front Row Ford 27.682s + 0.650s 32. Landon Cassill Circle Sport Chevrolet 27.736s + 0.704s 33. David Reutimann BK Toyota 27.775s + 0.743s 34. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 27.835s + 0.803s 35. Michael McDowell Parsons Ford 27.837s + 0.805s 36. Scott Speed Leavine Ford 27.884s + 0.852s 37. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 27.954s + 0.922s 38. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 27.961s + 0.929s 39. David Stremme Swan Toyota 27.981s + 0.949s 40. Danica Patrick Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 28.014s + 0.982s 41. Timmy Hill FAS Lane Ford 28.080s + 1.048s 42. JJ Yeley Baldwin Chevrolet 28.083s + 1.051s 43. Joe Nemecheck NEMCO Toyota 28.315s + 1.283s
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