Jimmie Johnson Wins Pole for Martinsville
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Tyler Barrick/Getty Images(MARTINSVILLE, Va.) — Five-time Sprint Cup series champion, Jimmie Johnson will start in the front row on Sunday after winning the pole on Friday.
Johnson’s 97.598 miles gave him the top starting spot and also the stall at the front of pit road.
“Pit road’s a very dangerous place as we all know here,” said Johnson. “Track position at the start of the race is big and that can come and go during the course of the race, at least at the beginning when everybody’s ancy, we’ll have some clean track in front of us.”
Points leader Brad Keselowski qualified 32nd and is only seven points ahead of Johnson headed into Sunday.
“I’d much rather race towards the front rather than qualify towards the front if I had to pick between the two,” Keselowski said. “I feel like we’ll be capable of pulling that off once the race gets started. Just ready to keep going, you know, feeling the season wind down and really feel good about our opportunities in front of us.”
Brian Vickers earned the outside starting spot on the front row, with Kyle Busch third and Jeff Burton in the second row.
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