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| Photo Credit: Jason Smith/ Getty Images for NASCAR |
Breaking a two-race pole streak Ford Motor Company products in the NASCAR Sprint Cup season, Kasey Kahne stormed to the Ford 400 pole his #83 Red Bull Toyota. Rounding the 1.5 mile in a time of 30.525 to take the final pole of 2010, Kahne and the Team Red Bull narrowly nicked Phoenix race winner Carl Edwards by a margin of just 0.031 seconds on the track. As qualifying concluded and the grid was set for the Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, less than 7/10th of a second separates Kasey Kahne's lead time with the slowest race entry speed posted by 40th place Juan Pablo-Montoya.
Kahne's 4th pole of this season, this is the driver's first top time since making an early entrance into Team Red Bull Racing. Having parted ways with has long-time Sprint Cup team (the #9 car existing within Richard Petty Motorsports) after the fall Charlotte event, Kasey Kahne is spending some early seat time inside the #83 Toyota preparing for a full season for 2011.
The Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing #1 Chevrolet of Jamie McMurray starts 3rd in this final event in afairy tale season for a driver many motorsport insiders wrote off prior to his victory at this year's Daytona 500. Bill Elliott is another continuing to make notable appearances in the NASCAR Sprint Cup series. The Dawsonville, Georgia 1988 NASCAR Cup champion positioned the #21 Wood Brothers Racing Ford in 4th. The #43 Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) Ford driven by AJ Allmendinger allowed 3 of the top-5 vehicles starting at the front of the Ford 400 to display a Blue Oval badge. A solid top-5 for Allmendinger within the uncertainty of RPM's 2011 operation, a bright spot for the embattled Ford team is qualifying where at least one team car started in the top-10 for 8 of the final 10 races.
In regards to the much anticipated final showdown Sunday for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup, second place in the points Jimmie Johnson starts in the best spot. Qualifying his #48 Lowes Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports 6th for the Ford 400, Johnson's so-called "drive for five" championships has the driver favoured (at least for the beginning of the event) to repeat the title victory which he's achieved the past four seasons.
Buried in 37th, current Chase for the Sprint Cup points leader Denny Hamlin #11 FedEx Toyota will be need to pick up considerable ground over the 400 mile distance to complete the eagerly-awaited spoiling of Jimmie Johnson's Sprint Cup series dominance. A difficult job, breaking through the field of the Homestead-Miami Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup race is a custom for Hamlin having never started better than 25th in previous qualifying attempts at the 1.5 mile oval. Last year, the #11 Toyota of Denny Hamlin won the season's final event starting 38th on that day.
Third 2010 Sprint Cup contender Kevin Harvick will also be required to make up some race distance after a lackluster time trial run. Starting better than Denny Hamlin in 28th place, Harvick's #29 Chevrolet will attempt to regain the series point lead honours which were stripped from the Richard Childress Racing pilot due to the Chase reformatting after Richmond.
With engine set to roar at 1 P.M. Eastern for the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup series finale Ford 400, expectations are to see a competitive event amongst the 43 who all have something to prove prior to the checkered flag.
2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup
Ford 400
Homestead-Miami Speedway
Starting Lineup
# Pos | Car # | Driver| Sponsor/ Car Make
- 83 Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota
- 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford
- 1 Jamie McMurray Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats Chevrolet
- 21 Bill Elliott Motorcraft / Quick Lane Ford
- 43 A J Allmendinger Insignia HDTV Ford
- 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe's Chevrolet
- 00 David Reutimann Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota
- 5 Mark Martin GoDaddy.com Chevrolet
- 6 David Ragan UPS Ford
- 78 Regan Smith Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet
- 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont Chevrolet
- 19 Elliott Sadler Stanley Ford
- 17 Matt Kenseth Crown Royal Ford
- 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet
- 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
- 98 Paul Menard Mastercraft / Menards Ford
- 33 Clint Bowyer Cheerios / Hamburger Helper Chevrolet
- 12 Brad Keselowski No. 12 Penske Dodge
- 20 Joey Logano The Home Depot Toyota
- 47 Marcos Ambrose Clorox / Kleenex Toyota
- 36 J J Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
- 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard / AMP Energy Chevrolet
- 39 Ryan Newman U.S.Army Chevrolet
- 9 Aric Almirola Budweiser Ford
- 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
- 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge
- 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford
- 29 Kevin Harvick Shell / Pennzoil Chevrolet
- 87 Joe Nemechek Young Eagles / HeatRedefined.com Toyota
- 66 Mike Bliss PRISM Motorsports Toyota
- 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot / Old Spice Chevrolet
- 09 Bobby Labonte C & J Energy Chevrolet
- 18 Kyle Busch M&M's Toyota
- 13 Casey Mears GEICO Toyota
- 71 Andy Lally Anderson's Maple Syrup Chevrolet
- 38 Dave Blaney A&W All American Food Ford
- 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Express Toyota
- 37 David Gilliland Taco Bell Ford
- 34 Travis Kvapil Long John Silver's Ford
- 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
- 82 Scott Speed Red Bull Toyota
- 7 Kevin Conway ExtenZe Toyota
- 64 Landon Cassill Empire Steel Buildings Toyota
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