Matt Kenseth continued the Joe Gibbs Racing hot streak Friday putting down a pole-winning lap of 197.488 miles per hour around the 2-mile Michigan global Speedway. The pole position was Kenseth’s third of the season, first at Michigan and 16th of his Sprint Cup career.
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“We were a long ways off Carl (Edwards) in practice and I don’t even know what changes they made, but they changed a lot of stuff that really woke this thing up and had some speed”, Kenseth said.
NASCAR introduced the high-drag package at Indianapolis two weeks ago and Michigan this week in an attempt to slow speeds and make for better and closer racing heading toward the Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship.
“This package is so different, it’s really a balance”, Kenseth said.
“I wish I could say my role played a little bit more in this, but obviously, with all of our cars up there in the top five or top six, it’s pretty much a sign that our organization is turning some heads right now”, Hamlin said.
“As compared to where I thought we were going to be, I’m pretty happy with where the auto was all day”, said Hornish, a Defiance native. Hamlin almost won his second pole of the year but was beaten by Kenseth. “We needed to drive better and find speed”.
“If I knew what they did, I certainly wouldn’t tell you guys”, Kenseth said. “You want to search for that clean air, maybe it widens the race track out”. “I can’t remember exactly what the vehicle felt like last time I was here”. “We didn’t have a lot of confidence in the race trim”.
Due to the package, NASCAR elected to forgo its multi-car group qualifying in favor of single auto runs Friday.
The latest impressive showing for Joe Gibbs Racing came in qualifying at Michigan global Speedway.
Busch is trying to stay in the top 30 in the standings so he can qualify for the Chase, and the other three Gibbs drivers are safely in. Jeff Gordon in his final race at Michigan failed to advance to the final round, he will start 21st Sunday.
But he found nearly 4 m.p.h.in qualifying.
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It also is the first time that JGR drivers have qualified 1-2-3 in a Sprint Cup race.
