NASCAR Michigan 2014 qualifying results: Jeff Gordon on pole, tops 206 mph

High speeds were the theme in Sprint Cup qualifying Friday at Michigan International Speedway, and when it was all said and done a familiar face was atop the scoring chart.

Posting the seventh-fastest pole speed (206.558 mph) in NASCAR history, Jeff Gordon was the No. 1 qualifier for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400. The pole was the 76th of Gordon’s career, who also took top honors in qualifying a week ago at Watkins Glen International.

Gordon broke the previous Michigan track set by Kevin Harvick in June, and 32 of 43 qualifiers timed out at over 200 mph.

“This is exciting,” Gordon said. “To be running this good and have cars that are this great; back-to-back poles from Watkins Glen to Michigan, we’re having a lot of fun right now.”

Sharing the front row with Gordon is Joey Logano, who qualified second. Carl Edwards, Brian Vickers and Brad Keselowski will start third through fifth, respectively. Rounding out the top 10 were Harvick, Paul Menard, Austin Dillon, Jamie McMurray and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“It is fast,” Edwards said. “That is the simplest way to describe it. It is fast. I wish you guys could ride in that car with me. That is screamin’.”

Among those who struggled to keep up with the blistering pace were Matt Kenseth (qualified 18th), Denny Hamlin (21st), Kyle Busch (24th), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (25th) and Jimmie Johnson (30th).

Earnhardt and Johnson, teammates of Gordon, both failed to advance out of the first round. Johnson won the June Michigan race.

“We’ve just had a vibration with our car; really a shake, a violent shake through the corner,” Johnson said. “And we’ve been trying to get to the bottom of it. We made it better, and it certainly went faster, but just not enough. We’ll go back to the drawing board and dig-in deeper and see what’s going on.”

Filling in for Trevor Bayne, who was attending practice for Saturday’s Nationwide Series race at the Mid-Ohio Sports Course, Ryan Blaney qualified 37th. Bayne will assume driving duties Sunday, but will have to drop to the rear of the field.