In what was an adventurous qualifying session Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, it was Denny Hamlin who came out ahead and won the pole for the Irwin Tools Night Race.
NASCAR Bristol 2013 qualifying results: Denny Hamlin wins pole; Kyle Busch will start last after wreck
Denny Hamlin took the pole position for Saturday’s NASCAR race at Bristol, while Kyle Busch wrecked in qualifying and will be forced to start last.
Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports
More: Coverage of Bristol
Because of the slick surface on the half-mile track, numerous drivers struggled with a lack of grip on their qualifying lap. Among them was Kyle Busch, who backed into the wall and will start Saturday’s race 43rd. He had been fastest in practice and was considered the favorite to win the No. 1 starting position.
For Hamlin, his fourth pole of the year comes at an opportune time, as his 2013 season has been a trying one.
It began when he broke his back in an accident in March at Auto Club Speedway, an injury that kept him out of the car for four races and all but ensured he would not make the Chase for the first time in his career. And as of late, it’s been inconsistency that has hampered Hamlin, who hasn’t finished better than 18th in his previous nine races.
“It’s our worst run of nine races in my career,” Hamlin said. “And a lot of it is our own doing. We got off track for a couple of races because we were blowing right front tires in consecutive weeks. We started chasing our setups and didn’t find anything that was very good with that.
“But we’re headed in the right direction. We’ve got something we can build on. It’s a pole at a short track, which is no big deal for a lot of teams, but like I said, at any moment we can go from that 25th-place car on a weekly basis to winning the pole and winning the race.”
A year ago, Hamlin won at Bristol starting eighth.
Lining up alongside Hamlin on the front row is Kurt Busch, who found trouble in practice when he pancaked the right side of his Chevrolet. His Furniture Row Racing team hastily made repairs and avoided having to switch to a backup car.
In his first race filling in for Tony Stewart, Mark Martin qualified 11th. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start 19th, Danica Patrick 22nd and Jeff Gordon 32nd.
The only driver who failed to qualify was Mike Bliss.
Irwin Tools Night Race at Bristol Qualifying Results
1) Denny Hamlin
2) Kurt Busch
3) Carl Edwards
4) Brian Vickers
5) Matt Kenseth
6) Joey Logano
7) Kasey Kahne
8) Ryan Newman
9) Martin Truex Jr.
10) Aric Almirola
11) Mark Martin
12) Brad Keselowski
13) Jimmie Johnson
14) Marcos Ambrose
15) Kevin Harvick
16) Juan Pablo Montoya
17) David Ragan
18) Ryan Truex
19) Dale Earnhardt Jr.
20) Jamie McMurray
21) Paul Menard
22) Danica Patrick
23) Bobby Labonte
24) Clint Bowyer
25) David Gilliland
26) Michael McDowell
27) Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
28) Josh Wise
29) Greg Biffle
30) Casey Mears
31) David Reutimann
32) Jeff Gordon
33) Landon Cassill
34) JJ Yeley
35) Ken Schrader
36) Dave Blaney
37) Joe Nemechek
38) David Stremme
39) Travis Kvapil
40) Tony Raines
41) Jeff Burton
42) Scott Speed
43) Kyle Busch
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