Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying
Date: Oct. 19, 2012
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying (Round 32 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Kasey Kahne of Hendrick Motorsports (28.219 seconds at 191.360 mph)
Kyle Busch: 4th (28.258 seconds at 191.096 mph)
Kyle Busch qualified fourth for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) turned a lap of 28.258 seconds at 191.096 mph on the newly paved 1.5-mile oval.
“I’ve got to thank everyone at M&M’s and Toyota,” said Busch, who recorded his 13th top-five starting spot of the season. “The guys here have done a really nice job. They gave me a really nice racecar with our M&M’s Halloween scheme and it’s cool to be up front like that. All of us drivers are high-fiving each other because we’re coming back in one piece. It’s crazy fast out there with the new pavement. You’re carrying so much corner speed here that it’s just amazing you don’t fall off that much through the turns. It’s white-knuckle time out there, for sure.”
His JGR teammates – Joey Logano in the No. 20 Toyota Camry and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota Camry – qualified eighth and ninth, respectively. Logano turned a lap of 28.300 seconds at 190.813 mph, while Hamlin stopped the clock in 28.314 seconds at 190.718 mph.
Kasey Kahne captured his 26th career Sprint Cup pole, his fourth of the season and his third at Kansas by posting a lap of 28.219 seconds at 191.360 mph, shattering the previous Sprint Cup qualifying record at Kansas of 29.858 seconds at 180.856 mph set on Oct. 8, 2005 by Matt Kenseth. All 46 drivers who attempted a qualifying lap posted speeds faster than Kenseth’s old mark.
Mark Martin will start on the outside of row one after turning a lap of 28.237 seconds at 191.238 mph. Clint Bowyer was third (28.253 seconds at 191.130 mph), while Busch and Aric Almirola (28.274 seconds at 190.988 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Hollywood Casino 400. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Josh Wise, David Stremme and Cole Whitt.
Chevrolet took the top spot among manufacturers via Kahne’s pole run. Toyota was next best at the hands of Martin. Ford was the third-fastest make thanks to Almirola, while 15th-quick Sam Hornish Jr., carried the flag for Dodge (28.407 seconds at 190.094 mph).
The Hollywood Casino 400 gets underway at 2 p.m. EDT Sunday, with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at 1 p.m.
