Kahne edges Johnson for pole

By Reid Spencer

Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

SONOMA, Calif.

Defending race winner Kasey Kahne was quick enough on Friday at Infineon Raceway — just barely — to deprive Jimmie Johnson of a chance to pad his r sum .

Kahne edged Johnson by .068 seconds to win the Coors Light Pole Award for Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile road course, turning a lap at 93.893 mph (76.300 seconds). Kahne’s performance kept Johnson (93.809 mph) without a win or a pole at Infineon.

Kurt Busch (93.579 mph) qualified third, followed by NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kevin Harvick (93.446 mph) and Jeff Gordon (93.415 mph). Marcos Ambrose, one of the favorites for the pole, got his foot stuck between the accelerator and brake pedals in Turn 11 and turned in the sixth-fastest time.

Kahne won the 17th pole of his career but his first since June 2008 — a streak of 71 races dating to the Infineon race that year. Prior to winning in 2009, Kahne had a best finish of 23rd in five previous starts at the road course.

“You get better as a driver on these types of tracks,” Kahne said. “You learn the cars better. You learn the course better. And just having better racecars, too — I think the speed of the cars the last couple of years has been better than anything I’ve had in the past.”

Johnson has a pole at the Cup series’ other road course, Watkins Glen, but has never won a road course race.

“This is just an irritation,” Johnson said. “I know I can do this. I get in other road-course cars and I’m plenty fast and competitive. I’ve run good at times in the Cup car on road courses, so I know I have it in me. I just need to figure out how to do it over the course of 90 laps (or 110, as in the case of Sunday’s race).”