NASCAR Charlotte 2014 qualifying results: Kyle Busch takes pole

Joe Gibbs Racing flexed its muscle in Charlotte qualifying with Kyle Busch winning the pole and Denny Hamlin posting the third-fastest speed.

For much of the season Joe Gibb Racing has struggled to find speed, but at the most opportune time the organization may be peaking.

Led by Kyle Busch (197.390 mph) JGR drivers qualified first and third for Saturday's race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, the fifth event of the Chase for the Sprint Cup. Jeff Gordon will start second, while Busch's teammate Denny Hamlin is third.

That JGR's cars were among the fastest cars in qualifying Thursday is a bit of a surprise. Intermediate tracks like Charlotte have been an area of weakness with Busch and Hamlin frequently lamenting the lack of horsepower its Toyota motors produced.

"We're working on it and we are getting better," Busch said. "I've been saying that if we get one piece of the puzzle each week at a time and we're going to be hard to beat. We'll see if we've got it all."

Throughout the summer months, though, the team made steady gains and entered the Chase confident it could contend for the championship. Twenty-one of 29 races have been won by Team Penske or Hendrick this season.

"It certainly feels good that we're heading in the right direction at the right time of the year," Busch said. "It's all about peaking at the right time and hopefully we haven't peaked yet and we still have a ways to climb. I feel like we do anyways. We haven't won. There's opportunity there.

"Hopefully there's still a continuation of that here in the next six weeks."

The pole was Busch's third of 2014. Other playoff drivers in the top-10: Ryan Newman (fifth), Kevin Harvick (seventh), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth) and Carl Edwards (10th).

Chasers Joey Logano (13th), Brad Keselowski, (17th) Kasey Kahne (19th), Jimmie Johnson (21st) and Matt Kenseth (22nd) all failed to transfer to the third round of qualifying. Both Keselowski and Johnson both needed to post laps just to advance in the final minutes of Round 1

"Our first round was not where we wanted to be and the guys worked on it and got us a little more speed," Keselowski said. "That got us to the next round and then we still didn't quite have enough. We think we have a solid race car."

Said Johnson: It's disappointing. There's no way around it."

Keselowski and Johnson each crashed last Sunday at Kansas Speedway. If either is to avoid Chase elimination they will likely need to win at Charlotte or next week at Talladega Superspeedway.

"There's a lot at stake, but it is every weekend," Keselowski said. "This is part of the challenge. We need to perform. This is our last chance to really control our destiny in the Chase for this round and we want to make the most of this opportunity."

Trevor Bayne was the only driver who failed to qualify. He was in a fourth Roush Fenway Racing car, the team Bayne will join full-time next season.

Bank of America 500 starting lineup

Position	Driver	Make	Speed
1	Kyle Busch	Toyota	197.390
2	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	197.217
3	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	197.087
4	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	196.542
5	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	196.442
6	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	196.100
7	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	195.837
8	Brian Vickers	Toyota	195.744
9	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	194.953
10	Carl Edwards	Ford	194.861
11	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	194.328
12	Greg Biffle	Ford	191.598
13	Joey Logano	Ford	196.485
14	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	196.464
15	Aric Almirola	Ford	196.442
16	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	196.414
17	Brad Keselowski	Ford	196.278
18	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	196.278
19	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	196.271
20	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	196.207
21	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	196.171
22	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	196.114
23	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet	195.730
24	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	195.673
25	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	195.291
26	A.J. Allmendinger	Chevrolet	195.277
27	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	194.665
28	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	Ford	194.273
29	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	194.112
30	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	193.736
31	Michael McDowell	Ford	193.465
32	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	193.368
33	Alex Bowman	Toyota	193.223
34	David Ragan	Ford	193.175
35	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	193.078
36	Cole Whitt	Toyota	192.974
37	David Gilliland	Ford	192.788
38	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	192.082
39	Brett Moffitt	Toyota	191.775
40	Timmy Hill	Chevrolet	190.975
41	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	190.235
42	Corey LaJoie	Ford	190.235
43	Blake Koch	Ford	187.396

from SBNation.com - All Posts http://ift.tt/1yemu2Q