Kasey Kahne wins pole at Michigan
Kasey Kahne will lead the field to green at Michigan on Sunday.
Kahne put up a lap of 35.645 seconds in the third round of qualifying. If you want it in blistering speed terms, it was a lap of 201.992 MPH.
Yeah, the cars were circling Michigan International Speedway incredibly quickly. In the second round of qualifying, Kahne entered turn 1 at 206 MPH. His car, per Fox’s tracker, only slowed to 198 MPH before it accelerated off turn 2. He slowed to 197 in turns 3 and 4.
Those speeds won’t be able to be maintained in the race, but the lack of separation between corner speed and top speed is worth watching during Sunday’s race. Will the high speeds prevent cars from being able to race side-by-side in the corners? That’s our guess, though we’re hoping to be proven wrong.
“It’s going to be really important,” Kahne said about starting up front. “The track is going to change a lot, though, come Sunday, with all the racing going on this weekend and then our practices tomorrow. The track will be a lot different Sunday. So, there will be some passing for sure, but it’s not going to be easy. So, track position will play a big role in being there at the end of the race.”
Kahne has one victory at Michigan and it came in 2006. He started on the pole for that race and he led 19 of the rain-shortened race’s 129 laps.
Kevin Harvick, who has eight second-place finishes this season, will start second. Brad Keselowski will start third while Carl Edwards and Ryan Blaney round out the top five.
Brendan Gaughan was the only driver to miss the race.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
