Kahne wins 1st pole of season on road course at Sonoma

Kahne takes pole at Sonoma

SONOMA, Calif. — Kasey Kahne won the pole Friday at Infineon Raceway in the same car he drove to victory in last year’s race on the road course.

Kahne turned a lap of 93.893 mph around the 11-turn, 1.99-mile course in a Ford for Richard Petty Motorsports. He knocked four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson from the pole.

Johnson, who has never won on a road course, qualified second at 93.809 mph in a Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports.

“It’s a great car,” he said. “It’s the same car we ran here last year, minus the engine. We’ve got a new Ford engine that runs really well. I’m looking forward to seeing how it runs throughout the race. Tomorrow (practice) is huge as far as getting the balance right and getting it to turn and hit the corners the way we want to.”

Kurt Busch qualified third and was followed by series points leader Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon and Marcos Ambrose, who many consider the darkhorse pick to win Sunday’s race.

Tony Stewart rebounded from a terrible practice session to qualify seventh, while Bobby Labonte, Greg Biffle and Martin Truex Jr. rounded out the top 10.

Mark Martin was 11th and was followed by series wins-leader Denny Hamlin, who has won the last two races and five overall.

Dale Earnhardt Jr., the slowest car in practice, qualified 23rd.

Among the three drivers who failed to qualify was Michael Waltrip, who was driving a Toyota with a special paint scheme created as part of a “Sponsafy Your Ride Contest.” The winning submission honored a woman’s 1-year-old grandson who suffers from a rare interstitial lung disease.

Brandon Ash and Brian Simo were the other two drivers who failed to qualify.