Kenseth posts rare top-five qualifying run at Kansas

Jimmie Johnson was just plain awesome on Friday in qualifying for the LifeLock 400 at Kansas Speedway.

Johnson has led three of six races at Kansas, so he knows how to get around the place, and he knows how to send a message, too. He obliterated the pole time Kurt Busch had put up early in the session by nearly half a second to snag the pole.

LifeLock 400

Chase Qualifiers

Pos.	Driver	Speed
1.	Jimmie Johnson	175.063
2.	Matt Kenseth	174.283
4.	Jeff Gordon	173.695
5.	Denny Hamlin	173.684
8.	Kyle Busch	173.483
9.	Martin Truex Jr.	173.455
10.	Clint Bowyer	173.338
12.	Kurt Busch	172.916
17.	Kevin Harvick	172.458
19.	Tony Stewart	172.386
27.	Carl Edwards	171.467
34.	Jeff Burton	171.016

Going out 23rd of 46 cars, Johnson's lap of 30.846 seconds (175.063 mph) was .471 seconds and 2.147 mph faster than Busch's lap. He was the only driver in the session to top 175 mph.

He'll have plenty of company near the front from his fellow Chasers, as 10 of them will start in the top 20 on Sunday.

Behind Johnson came a surprising Matt Kenseth in second, Jeff Gordon fourth and Denny Hamlin fifth, with Kyle Busch (eighth) and Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) and Clint Bowyer (10th) rounding out the top 10.

Kurt Busch wound up 12th, Kevin Harvick was 17th and Tony Stewart will start 19th. Carl Edwards (27th) and Jeff Burton (34th) both were early qualifiers like Busch.

Johnson has been great on Fridays at Kansas, but less so, statistically, when the checkered flag falls. His average finish is 13.8, but if you throw out 2004, when he was 32nd, it's 7.4. He's also led 126 laps, third best all-time at Kansas.

Kenseth improved on his practice time by a quarter-second on his way to the third spot and will start inside the top five for just the fifth time this season.

Kenseth, who runs well at Chicagoland, sister track to Kansas, but hasn't been able to turn the trick at Kansas, came in at 30.984 seconds, 174.284 mph. A fifth-place run in 2005 is his best showing by far in six starts at Kansas, and he averages 20.0 for finishes, ninth among the top 12. Included among those finishes are showings of 36th, 32nd, and 23rd.

Gordon, a two-time winner at Kansas, is the career lap leader there and all 169 laps he's led came in the first two races, which he won. Since Kansas has widened out a little bit, he hasn't led a single lap in the last four times out.

Despite being the only multiple winner, Gordon's average finish is 11.5, marred by a 39th-place run last year. His qualifying lap was pretty hot, but still two-tenths of a second off Johnson's mark at 31.089 seconds, 173.695 mph.

Hamlin, shaking off the ill effects of a lost weekend in Dover, did much better on Friday than he usually does at Kansas, clicking off a lap at 31.091 seconds, 173.684 mph -- just .002 seconds off Gordon's time.

Hamlin has had terrible luck the past two weeks, and Kansas, at least on paper, doesn't seem to offer much sunshine in terms of finishes. He's been 18th (last year) and 32nd in his two races there, for an average of 25.0, last among the Chase drivers.