David Ragan on pole for Brickyard

Associated press

indianapolis

David Ragan, in the midst of a career breakthrough, added the pole for the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway to his suddenly improved resume.

Ragan earned his first career Sprint Cup Series victory earlier this month at Daytona, a track long considered to be the crown jewel track of NASCAR. Indianapolis ranks among the most prestigious tracks in the world, and Ragan’s pole-winning run Saturday was no small feat.

He made his run late in the session, with three-time Brickyard winner Jimmie Johnson holding down the top spot on the leaderboard. Ragan turned a lap of 182.994 mph in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford to bump Johnson from the pole.

“It will be cool to lead the pack,” Ragan said. “It’s an honor to be here and to be the fastest guy at Indy. This is a great track. Any type of accomplishment you get here is cool.”

It’s Ragan’s second career pole. His first came in April at Texas.

“It was a good lap, I didn’t make a mistake,” Ragan said. “It wasn’t as aggressive as I wanted to be. But I knew if I hit my marks, had a conservative lap, I’d at least have a top-five.”

Kasey Kahne made his qualifying run after Ragan and jumped in front of Johnson with a lap at 182.927 mph in a Toyota.

“We just have to be there at the end,” Kahne said. “It seems that’s how this race is won, being up front at the end. You’re not just going to pass five, six cars. When you get to turn one, you’ve got to be one of those top couple of cars more times than not.”

Johnson, the five-time defending series champion, will start third with a lap of 182.801. Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski qualified fourth and fifth in their Dodges. AJ Allmendinger, Juan Pablo Montoya, Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth and series points leader Carl Edwards rounded out the top 10.