Gordon qualifies inside the top three at Kentucky

SPARTA, Ky. – Jeff Gordon advanced to the final round of knockout qualifying on Thursday at Kentucky Speedway and solidified a third-place starting position for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup Series race. 

Kasey Kahne locked in the 20th position on the starting grid while teammates Jimmie Johnson and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. will roll off the grid 25th and 29th, respectively.

In 12 starts at Kentucky, Hendrick Motorsports has posted four top-five finishes, eight top-10s and led for 213 laps. The organization also is the sole Cup team to have won the pole position at the 1.5-mile tri-oval, with Earnhardt winning in 2013 and Johnson in 2012. Kentucky Speedway, which began hosting NASCAR’s premier series in 2011, is the only active track where Hendrick Motorsports has not produced a win in the Sprint Cup Series.

The 400-mile race will be televised at 7:30 p.m. ET on TNT. Check local listings.

Here is a look at how the Hendrick Motorsports teams have fared at the Kentucky tri-oval.

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS
QUALIFIED: 20th
SEASON-TO-DATE: In 16 Sprint Cup Series races this season, Kasey Kahne is tied for sixth in fastest speed in traffic (11.063) and ranks seventh in closers (22 positions improved in the last 10 percent of each race). He also ranks eighth in fastest drivers late in a run (11.083), eighth in green-flag speed (10.917), ninth in fastest laps run (129), ninth in quality passes (943) and 10th in fastest drivers early in a run (11.417).
KAHNE AT KENTUCKY: In three Sprint Cup Series starts at Kentucky, Kahne has three top-13 finishes, including a runner-up result. The 34-year-old driver recorded his best career finish at the track in 2012, when he rallied from a 19th starting position to finish second. His average finish at the 1.5-mile tri-oval is 8.7, which ranks him fifth among active Sprint Cup Series drivers.
KENTUCKY LOOP DATA: According to NASCAR loop data for the three races at Kentucky, Kahne ranks first in green-flag passes (313) and is tied for second in the closers category with 12 positions improved in the last 10 percent of laps in each race. The driver of the No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet SS also ranks third in quality passes (116), third in speed in traffic (170.363 mph), fourth in green-flag speed (171.289 mph), fourth in fastest drivers late in a run (170.390 mph), fifth in fastest laps run (52), fifth in driver rating (98.2) and seventh in fastest drivers early in a run (171.978 mph).
INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: Kahne has collected nine of his 16 career Cup wins and 15 of his 26 pole positions at tracks one-to-two miles in length. In 180 starts on these tracks, he has posted 43 top-five finishes and 72 top-10s.
KENTUCKY CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Kenny Francis selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 5-820 for Saturday night’s race at Kentucky. Kahne raced this car twice last year, finishing 15th at Kansas Speedway in October and then 13th at Homestead-Miami Speedway in November. He also drove this chassis at the Fontana oval in March and at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s All-Star Race in May.

JEFF GORDON, NO. 24 DRIVE TO END HUNGER CHEVROLET SS
QUALIFIED: Third
POINTS LEADER: On Sunday at Sonoma Raceway in California, Jeff Gordon finished second to remain atop the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series point standings. His 12 top-10s in 2014 are a Series-best.
TOP-10 AVERAGE FINISH: Gordon is the only driver to have a top-10 average finishing position (8.7) through the first 16 races of the 2014 season.
ALL TOP-10’S AT KENTUCKY: The 42-year-old driver has finished in the top 10 in each of the three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races at Kentucky. In the inaugural event in 2011, Gordon finished 10th and in 2012, he scored a fifth-place result. Last year, Gordon crossed under the checkered flag eighth at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
KENTUCKY IS THE ONLY ONE: Kentucky Speedway is the only track where Gordon has yet to visit Victory Lane in a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.
KENTUCKY CHASSIS: No. 24 crew chief Alan Gustafson selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 24-869 for this Saturday night’s race. Gordon has raced this chassis twice to a first-place finish at Kansas in May and eighth-place result at Pocono in June.
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN: “You never want to be satisfied unless you are on the pole or in Victory Lane, but this sort of feels like a victory for me because that first run was not pretty. The car just didn’t do what I wanted it to do. It was a pretty wild session for the Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet, but those last two or three runs were just so solid. Third is a great place to start this race.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS
QUALIFIED: 25th
SEASON-TO-DATE: After 16 NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season, Jimmie Johnson owns the highest driver rating with a score of 110.1. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS has led the most laps thus far in 2014 with 1,008, which accounts for 20.9 percent of all laps led this season.
AT KENTUCKY: In three starts at Kentucky, Johnson has posted one pole position, one top-five finish, three top-10s and led for 203 laps. He has an average start of 3.0 and an average finish of 6.0 at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
DRIVER RATING AT KENTUCKY: Johnson owns the highest driver rating at Kentucky with a score of 125.9 in the three Cup races held there. The driver rating is a formula that combines wins, top-15 finishes, and average running position while on the lead lap, average speed under green, fastest lap, most laps led and lead-lap finishes. The maximum a driver can earn in each race is 150 points. The driver rating number is used pre-race as a prediction tool and post-race as a performance evaluator.
FOUR REMAIN: Kentucky Speedway is one of the four remaining tracks where Johnson has yet to reach Victory Lane. The others are: Chicagoland Speedway, Watkins Glen International and Homestead-Miami Speedway.
CHASSIS CHOICE: Crew chief Chad Knaus selected Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 48-799, which Johnson drove at Kansas Speedway and the Fontana oval earlier this season. The backup car is Chassis No. 48-728, which was most recently raced at Bristol Motor Speedway in March.
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN: “Race-trim-wise, I think we’re in good shape. We made a qualifying run at the end of practice and went slower than our race run (laughs); so, it’s discouraging coming into qualifying. We didn’t get the lap that we needed out there and didn’t transfer. But I feel actually decent about our car in race trim. We put up a great two runs in the final practice session. We just couldn’t get out of our own way in qualifying trim.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS
QUALIFIED: 29th
SEASON-TO-DATE STATS: In the first 16 Cup events of 2014, Dale Earnhardt, Jr. has scored two wins, eight top-five finishes, 11 top-10s and led 202 laps. The driver of the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS has scored more top-five results this season than any other Cup competitor.
EARNHARDT AT KENTUCKY: This Saturday, Earnhardt will make his fourth career Sprint Cup start at Kentucky Speedway, a track that first made its debut on the NASCAR Sprint Cup circuit in 2011. Earnhardt has one pole position, one top-five finish and two top-12s at the 1.5-mile tri-oval.
KENTUCKY CHASSIS: Crew chief Steve Letarte unloaded Hendrick Motorsports Chassis No. 88-877 for this weekend’s Cup event at Kentucky. Earnhardt most recently raced this chassis to a fifth-place finish at Kansas Speedway in May.
INTERMEDIATE TRACK STATS: In 251 Cup starts on intermediate tracks that range from one to two miles in length, Earnhardt has recorded six wins, eight pole positions, 52 top-five finishes and 104 top-10s. On 1.5-mile tracks like Kentucky, he ranks sixth among active, full-time drivers in the top-10s category (48).
ON HIS QUALIFYING RUN: “We’ve been fighting the car all day and haven’t had any gains. We haven’t been able to figure out what we need to do. The car is really bouncing all the way down the straightaway and all the way through the corners. It’s just way too rough, has way too much movement and it’s hard to control it that way.”