NASCAR Homestead 2016 qualifying results: Kevin Harvick wins pole; Kyle Busch leads title contenders

Defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch was the fastest of the four remaining title contenders in qualifying Friday for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship race Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Busch, who is also the defending race winner, will start ninth, with Carl Edwards 10th, Joey Logano 13th, and Jimmie Johnson 14th. Neither Logano nor Johnson advanced past the second of three qualifying rounds. Whomever finishes highest among the four on Sunday will win the 2016 championship.

“It wasn’t certainly the run that we were looking for,” Busch said. “We just kind of missed the balance a little bit and didn’t quite have the confidence that I needed within the car to get more out of it. But it was a decent qualifying effort, I guess, if you consider the big picture of where we’re all at.”

Kevin Harvick’s lap of 177.637 mph around the 1.5-mile track earned him the pole. Brad Keselowski (177.538 mph) will start alongside Harvick on the front row. Harvick was surprisingly eliminated from the Chase when the semifinal round concluded last week; he had never failed to transfer out of a bracket since NASCAR instituted the knockout playoff in 2014.

Ryan Newman qualified third, with Denny Hamlin and rookie Chase Elliott rounding out the top five. Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth, and rookie Ryan Blaney start six, seventh, and eighth, respectively.

Johnson experienced an eventful Round 1, very nearly not being among the 24 drivers to proceed to the second session. He initially failed to produce a lap fastest enough to place him above the cutline, and after cooling his tires Johnson made another attempt, but his hot lap was negated when Landon Cassill’s single-car spin brought out the red flag.

On his third attempt, Johnson clocked-in the 22nd-fastest speed to transfer.

“That first outing we just didn’t get a good lap,” Johnson said. “Then I was on a great lap and the caution came out so we ended up with an additional lap on our tires. ... Qualifying isn’t my strong suit, I’m much better at racing, so let’s line them up and go racing.”

Ford 400 qualifying results