FORT WORTH, Texas—Kasey Kahne stayed strong at Texas Motor Speedway, qualifying fourth hours after earning the fastest speed in today’s second practice session.
Teammate Jimmie Johnson will also start Saturday’s race inside the top five. Johnson will take the grid in fifth place racing the No. 48 Lowe’s ProServices Chevrolet SS.
“We knew we had a fast car and I maybe conserved a little too much on the opening session and barely transferred through and kind of made my guys nervous,” Johnson said. "We got into the second round and went on to the third and had a nice top-five there. It’s nice to have just raw speed in the car. I feel like that will translate to what we need in the race.”
Jeff Gordon, piloting the No. 24 Panasonic Chevrolet SS, will round out the top 12, taking the green flag in 12th place.
“I thought it felt good,“ Gordon said to his teammates on the radio as he came off the racetrack in round two. The teammates responded that they were impressed by Gordon’s car handling in Turns 1 and 2, leaving the team to feel confident going into tomorrow night’s race.
Competing in the No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet SS, Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start at the 1.5-mile oval in 25th.
After returning to the garage concluding round one, Earnhardt took to Twitter, expressing his confidence for tomorrow's race and informing fans of the great speed in the No. 88 Chevrolet SS race trim.
Kurt Busch, racing a Hendrick Motorsports engine, will start Saturday’s race from the pole position.