Jimmie Johnson and his Lowe's Chevrolet crew put together the best three lap time with a pit stop to earn the top spot for Saturday night's 25th running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Lowe's Motor Speedway.
Johnson reeled off three laps plus a four tire pit stop in 121.42 seconds to earn his first pole in his eighth All-Star appearance.
“I don't think it's gimmicky,” said Johnson of the weekend's unique format for qualifying and racing. “It's different. We're trying to put on the best show so our all-star show blows away everything else other sports have.”
Kurt Busch had the second best time of the session in the Miller Lite Dodge with 122.19 effort.
Matt Kenseth, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. and Mark Martin rounded out the first five.
The night didn't go well for a group of drivers including Kyle Busch and Greg Biffle, who were handed five second penalties beause of a losse lug nut on their stops.
Carl Edwards had three loose lug nuts and was slapped with a 20-second penalty while Clint Bowyer and Jeff Burton received twenty second penalties for speeding on pit road.
Tony Stewart left his stop a bit early, pulling away after his team only changed two tires rather than four.
“I'll be right back,” Stewart cracked on his radio. “It was my screw-up."
And mechanical problems during his run plagued Denny Hamlin.
Saturday night's 25th running of the NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race will begin at 7 p.m. (ET) with the Sprint Showdown.
Qualifying for that race was rained out and the 35-car field will be lined up based on qualifying draw.
However Kirk Shelmerdine and Carl Long, who would have started upfront, will drop to the rear of the field. Shelmerdine crashed in his practice session while Long changed engines.
That moves David Stremme and Dave Blaney to the front row.
