Dillon Wins Texas Sprint Cup Pole, Logano Second

FORT WORTH, TX – RIS - Austin Dillon won the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race, his second of the season and the third of his career in his 119th start, by edging out Joey Logano in the final round of knockout qualifying on Friday at TMS.

"Man, this is huge," Dillon said after climbing from his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.

Dillon turned his top lap in the final round of qualifying in 192.301 miles per hour, knocking Logano from the pole. Logano, whose top lap in the final round was 192.260 mph, will start second.

"It's really, really, really frustrating. ... Second stings the most," Logano said.

Kevin Harvick was third-fastest, with Brad Keselowski and Kyle Larson rounding out the top five. Harvick blamed himself for costing his team the pole and joked over his team's radio that "I feel like I'm getting older every lap."

Dillon qualified for his first Chase and advanced from Round 1 to the Round of 12, but was narrowly eliminated when the playoff field was trimmed from 12 drivers to eight following the elimination race at Talladega two weeks ago.

"I can't be happier for RCR and everybody back at the shop," Dillon said. "A lot of hard work and effort goes on. We missed (moving on in) the Chase by just two feet. We want to prove that we can win a race by the end of this year, so this is big for us.."

Logano and Harvick are still alive in the Chase and will start with an advantage over the likes of Matt Kenseth (seventh), Carl Edwards (ninth), Kurt Busch (10th), Denny Hamlin (17th), Jimmie Johnson (19th) and Kyle Busch (24th).

Busch attempted to qualify in a backup car after wrecking his primary No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota before he completed a single complete lap in Friday's lone practice. But after making it through the first round with the second-fastest time behind only Logano, a radiator hose became disconnected on pit road and forced him to take the car behind the pit wall to the garage for repairs, meaning his qualifying efforts for the day were done.  It was the second major setback of the day for the defending Sprint Cup champion and should not have happened, crew chief Adam Stevens admitted.

“I think it is a byproduct of pounding the fence before we even completed a lap in practice," Stevens said. "In our hurry to change the motor and all the drivetrain afterward, apparently we didn’t get the lower radiator hose completely clamped on the water neck out of the block and proceeded to dump all the water out of it on pit road after our first run. We’re going to start 24th and get after them from there.”

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Greg Biffle 04/14/12 03:07:12 160.577
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 3 Austin Dillon Realtree/Bad Boy Chevrolet 28.081 192.301
2 22 Joey Logano (C) AAA Ford 28.087 192.260
Row 2: 3 4 Kevin Harvick (C) Busch Beer Chevrolet 28.099 192.178
4 2 Brad Keselowski Alliance Truck Parts Ford 28.106 192.130
Row 3: 5 42 Kyle Larson Kimberly Clark Chevrolet 28.131 191.959
6 27 Paul Menard Schrock/Menards Chevrolet 28.195 191.523
Row 4: 7 20 Matt Kenseth (C) DEWALT FLEXVOLT Toyota 28.216 191.381
8 21 Ryan Blaney # Borg Warner Ford 28.232 191.272
Row 5: 9 19 Carl Edwards (C) Sport Clips Toyota 28.274 190.988
10 41 Kurt Busch (C) Haas Automation/Monster Energy Chevrolet 28.340 190.543
Row 6: 11 24 Chase Elliott # Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet 28.357 190.429
12 78 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota 28.487 189.560
Row 7: 13 13 Casey Mears GEICO Military Chevrolet 28.238 191.232
14 47 AJ Allmendinger Bush's Chili Beans Chevrolet 28.244 191.191
Row 8: 15 1 Jamie McMurray Cessna Chevrolet 28.265 191.049
16 88 Alex Bowman(i) Nationwide Chevrolet 28.288 190.894
Row 9: 17 11 Denny Hamlin (C) FedEx Office Toyota 28.298 190.826
18 31 Ryan Newman Grainger Chevrolet 28.335 190.577
Row 10: 19 48 Jimmie Johnson (C) Lowe's Chevrolet 28.493 189.520
20 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Fastenal Ford 28.542 189.195
Row 11: 21 43 Aric Almirola Smithfield Ford 28.623 188.659
22 10 Danica Patrick TaxACT Chevrolet 28.742 187.878
Row 12: 23 14 Tony Stewart Bass Pro Shops/Mobil 1 Chevrolet 281.286 19.198
24 18 Kyle Busch (C) M&M's Toyota 27.827 194.056
Row 13: 25 16 Greg Biffle Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford 28.251 191.144
26 6 Trevor Bayne AdvoCare/SEAL Legacy Foundation Ford 28.308 190.759
Row 14: 27 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Chevrolet 28.312 190.732
28 95 Michael McDowell Thrivent Financial Chevrolet 28.343 190.523
Row 15: 29 44 Brian Scott # Albertsons/Tom Thumb Ford 28.372 190.328
30 34 Chris Buescher # Love's Travel Stops Ford 28.374 190.315
Row 16: 31 5 Kasey Kahne AARP Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet 28.389 190.215
32 7 Regan Smith Nikko RC/Toy State Chevrolet 28.435 189.907
Row 17: 33 83 Matt DiBenedetto ZAK Backs the Blue Toyota 28.436 189.900
34 38 Landon Cassill MDS Transport Ford 28.561 189.069
Row 18: 35 93 Ryan Ellis(i) Science Logic Toyota 28.648 188.495
36 23 David Ragan Dr Pepper Toyota 28.778 187.643
Row 19: 37 46 Michael Annett Pilot Flying J Chevrolet 28.903 186.832
38 55 Reed Sorenson Trump - Pence Toyota 29.316 184.200
Row 20: 39 32 Joey Gase(i) Donate Life Texas Ford 29.660 182.063
40 30 Josh Wise Curtis Key Plumbing Chevrolet 29.877 180.