Biffle leads all-Roush front row

Greg Biffle claimed his second pole position of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season at Kansas to lead an all-Roush Fenway Ford front row for Sunday's fourth round of the Chase, beside Carl Edwards.

Two-time Kansas winner Biffle beat the benchmark set earlier by Edwards by 56 thousandths of a second with a lap of 30.877 seconds, at an average speed of 174.887 mph. Underlining the strength of the Roush Fenway Fords, Matt Kenseth secured a place on the second row of the grid, beside the fastest Toyota of fellow title contender Kyle Busch.

"Today was a very trying day, we were 35th this morning when we unloaded from the truck," said Biffle after claiming his outfit's eighth pole of the season, more than any other Cup squad has managed thus far.

"We had a lot of work to do and I'm really proud of my team to come back and put it on pole here. That says a lot for a team and that's what a championship team is made of, somebody that can turn the day around and we definitely did that today."

Edwards, who joins Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick at the top of the Chase standings, beat the rest of the title contenders on a flying lap, while most of them made it into the top-15 of the grid for Sunday's race. However the Roush driver did not get carried away by his result, as the field faces two more practice sessions on Saturday in order to work on race trim.

"Qualifying here is not indicative of how you are going to run the race," said Edwards. "Hopefully our qualifying effort translates into a good race but we have to focus really hard on race trim tomorrow. The race is a long one and you can pass here. It really matters how fast your car is in race trim."

Kasey Kahne kept the momentum rolling for Red Bull after his fourth place at Dover with fifth on the grid for Sunday, ahead of RCR's Paul Menard, who had been fastest in practice earlier.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson did not enjoy a great run and ended up 19th fastest, while Tony Stewart had yet another lacklustre qualifying effort which left him 23rd in the grid.

Scott Speed, who became a father this week, enjoyed his best qualifying since returning to Cup full-time, finishing 25th fastest as the best of the non-guaranteed drivers.

Right behind him RCR's Austin Dillon, who leads the Truck Series points standings, qualified solidly for his Cup debut in 26th.

David Starr, Josh Wise and Mike Skinner failed to make the field.

Bowyer completes Waltrip deal

Clint Bowyer will drive for Michael Waltrip Racing from 2012, the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series team announced on Friday.

Bowyer will turn a page on his career at the end of the season, leaving Richard Childress Racing after driving for the outfit in NASCAR since 2004. He has agreed a three-year deal to drive Waltrip's #15 Toyota Camry.

Despite having hinted at a new deal being close with RCR a couple of months ago, Bowyer's negotiations with his current employer hit a stumbling block. According to the 32-year-old 2008 Nationwide Series champion, negotiations with RCR to bring in a new personal sponsor to the team were not successful.

A few weeks ago MWR confirmed team officials had held talks with Bowyer and sponsor 5-Hour Energy about a potential deal which eventually came to fruition, adding a third car to the existing two the outfit fields.

In nearly six full seasons at Cup level, Bowyer has won four races and finished a career-best third in the standings in 2007. He missed the Chase this season but has been a contender at the front during the play-off races, losing a possible win at Loudon two weeks ago when he ran out of fuel while in the lead.

"This has been a very long summer, but I think for everyone involved, the best decision was made to be at Michael Waltrip Racing," said Bowyer.

"I am a big fan of 5-hour Energy so I was really happy when they approached me about putting a deal together. We were diligent in working through our options and finally found the right fit.

"I have been so impressed with what's going on at MWR. Then when the 5-hour Energy executives met with Michael and his people, we knew this was going to be our home.

"I've been with one organisation for my entire Sprint Cup career and leaving there was the hardest part of the decision. But now I'm ready to start the next chapter in my racing career."

MWR is in its fifth full season at Cup level, earning two wins thus far with David Reutimann, who drives the team's #00 entry. Martin Truex Jr has driven a second MWR car since 2010 and the squad gives technical support to JTG Daugherty Racing, which fields former Cup champion Bobby Labonte. It remains to be seen if that relationship continues into 2012 now that MWR will have its own third entry.

"This is a watershed moment for our young organisation," said Michael Waltrip, who co-owns MWR with Rob Kauffman. "Clint is a proven winner and consistent Chase participant. He had a lot of options and it makes me proud that Clint and 5-hour Energy chose to race with us.

"This announcement continues to show our partner Toyota, our sponsors, our employees and the entire NASCAR community that MWR is serious about success and dedicated to winning."

Alongside Bowyer's move, MWR recently announced the signing of former RCR director of competition Scott Miller who will become the outfit's executive vice president for competition.

Drives praise new Phoenix

NASCAR Sprint Cup drivers gave the new Phoenix International Raceway a collective thumbs up following an open test but many expect the track may spring a few surprises when they return for the penultimate race of the Chase.

Most of the Cup field ran during two days at the Arizona track, which has been repaved and reconfigured, throwing in an element of huge uncertainty at the venue that will host one of the final Chase races of the season.

Among the changes are a new, smoother surface, a new pitlane, wider front straight, reconfigured back straight and additional banking built into the turns.

Two-time Phoenix winner Jeff Gordon, the last driver to take victory on the track's old surface, said he liked the changes to what NASCAR officials called a "a brand new facility."

"What happened is Turn 1 is about the same," Gordon said. "You drive in really deep using a lot of brake. The left front tyre gets real light as you sort of crest that hill, as you get down in the banking. All that's basically the same. Once you get to the middle, you just put your foot in it. You have so much room off there.

"Then you just have this run down the back straight. It's kind of like a rollercoaster ride back there. You have all that space out there. It drops down. The car compresses into the racetrack, touches a little bit with the splitter, then you come back up out of that hole as you get to Turn 3.

"I haven't run side-by-side with anybody back there. But just looking at it and driving it, it's a lot of fun. I mean, it gets your attention the first couple times you go through there. Other than that, you know, it's a heck of a ride."

Joint Chase leader Carl Edwards, who won at Phoenix last year, believes the new surface and configuration may potentially generate unexpected situations that will make championship contenders wary as they hope to get to Homestead still with a clear shot at the title.

"Whenever you introduce something new like this new surface and new track layout, there are going to be guys that figure it out quickly and there are going to be guys that struggle, it's not necessarily the guys you expect," said the Roush Fenway driver.

"This race, I think we're all going to come here with a little bit of nervousness, a little trepidation on, hey, do we have the right setup? As a driver, I have to ask myself, am I driving the right way around the race track?

"The way the surface is, it's unforgiving so there could be some accidents and things happen that we don't usually see at Phoenix. To me it's going to be pretty amazing to be the penultimate race and have all those opportunities for something crazy to happen, it could shake everything up."

Kyle Busch, also a past winner at Phoenix, placed emphasis on Goodyear's tyre selection for the race weekend as being key to how the race turns out as he reckons grip was at a premium during the two-day test. Officials are expected to work on trying to rubber-in the new surface during this month before NASCAR returns for the race weekend.

"It's going to be kind of exciting to see how [the track] races, which is pretty cool," said Busch. "I'm looking forward to that. There's not a lot of grip in the tyres, so the more we run, the more rubber on the track, the better the tyres feel, but I still feel to move out of that lane it's going to be really difficult.

"Hopefully Goodyear really looks at it and brings the right tyre to the race and the track rubbers in the right way and we have a good show. I think the track is great, I think what they did with it is really nice."

Besides testing for the penultimate race of the season, the Hendrick, Penske and Waltrip teams, ran fuel-injected cars as they continue to develop the system before its fully implemented in 2012.

The test was the second for Cup cars at the venue, after a few teams ran a Goodyear test last month.

Edwards optimistic of title threat

Carl Edwards is optimistic about remaining a close title contender throughout the Chase after getting back to the top of the standings following the third round of the playoff.

The Roush Fenway Ford driver led the points throughout most of the regular season, but dropped back once the Chase field was set due to having a single win while many of his rivals scored multiple victories in the first 26 races.

Since the title race started at Chicagoland three weeks ago, Edwards has scored more points than anyone else in the Cup field and has finished inside the top 10 at every race, overcoming a pitlane penalty that put him a lap down last weekend to finish a close third at Dover behind reigning champion Jimmie Johnson.

Edwards is level on points with Kevin Harvick at the top of the championship - only behind his rival on countback - and the Roush man believes his team has got what it takes to continue to lead into the decisive races, in what is turning out to be a closely-fought championship.

"We led the points I think for 13 or 15 weeks," said Edwards. "I feel that our team, we know we can lead the points. We know we can finish well enough to stay up front, but our strategy hasn't changed much. Right now it's essentially as if we haven't run three races.

"Those nine guys separated by 19 points - I think was the way it ended up at Dover - so nine people separated by that small of a window, it's still as if we're just starting the Chase.

"All we have to do is keep doing what we've been doing, do the best we can. We got lucky at Dover. We need that luck on our side. But we're tied for the points lead because we've run well enough to be there.

"If we can just continue that, I think we have a real shot at this. I feel really good about it."

Edwards believes that in order to win the championship he will need to win more races while also avoiding a poor finish, something he has managed during the first three races of the play-off thus far, while others as Johnson have already stumbled.

The former Nationwide Series champion last drove to Victory Lane at Las Vegas - the third race of the season - and has finished second three times since then. He remains the most recent winner at Homestead, where the championship is expected be up for grabs once again.

"I do believe that the winner of the championship is going to win a race or two in the Chase," he said. "I feel you're going to have to run so well, you will win a race or two. We should have won at Dover. I think the more important thing is going to be the bad days.

"I truly believe that. You're going to have guys run out of fuel or wreck and take themselves out of that group of nine guys that are all competing. It's going to slowly whittle itself to seven, six, five. By the end of the Chase, you're going to have four guys, three guys going into Homestead with a chance. Then it's going to be who doesn't have that bad race at Homestead."

"Everybody knows that one mistake can cost them a shot at it. There's a lot of pressure on everybody."

Back in 2008 Edwards was Johnson's closest rival during the Chase but his outfit then endured a tough 2009 and he was only able to win again at the end of last year, taking victories in the final two races of the season.

Edwards believes since then his team has been on a charge that has reassured him of their ability to fight for victory every week and ultimately this year's title.

"We went through a very tough time in 2009," recalled Edwards. "Through all of that I think we learned how strong we can be. The thing I'm most proud of is we didn't collapse. Our team, we didn't start firing people or pointing fingers. Roush Fenway Racing buckled down, worked harder, worked smarter.

"We came back and were able to win the last two races last season, lead the points for most of the season. I feel we're a threat at every race track we go to. How that applies to me personally, I have more true confidence and a little more calm approach to this whole championship."

Besides his solid Sprint Cup season this year, Edwards has also enjoyed success in the Nationwide Series where he has won seven races, although he is not eligible to contend for the title.

Goodyear extends NASCAR deal

Goodyear will continue to supply tyres for NASCAR's national touring series through 2017 after the manufacturer signed an extended agreement with the sanctioning body.

The American tyre company will remain NASCAR's exclusive tyre supplier for the Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series, further extending a 57-year relationship.

"Our long-time relationship with Goodyear is a testament to the company's consistent high-quality tyre it supplies the race teams," said NASCAR's Jim O'Connell. "Not only are they experts in tyre performance, but they are also a brand that understands how to effectively engage and connect with our fans through creative activation."

Goodyear has been the sole tyre supplier for NASCAR since 1997, after last facing competition from fellow American manufacturer Hoosier in the late 1980s and mid-90s. Safety concerns and escalating costs during their rivalry led the sanctioning body to switch to a one-make tyre series.

"This extension is the continuation of a relationship between experts," said Pierre Jambon, vice president of Goodyear's off-highway business. "NASCAR is clearly the expert in stock car racing, and it has chosen Goodyear because of our expertise in delivering outstanding performance.

"Our tyre performance on the track validates our brand, inspires confidence for drivers and helps create exciting racing for fans. We are proud to continue to be an integral part of NASCAR."

NASCAR's technical relationship with Goodyear includes a number of in-season tests where they work jointly to develop tyres for every specific venue where the championships race.

Kurt Busch beats Johnson at Dover

Kurt Busch beat reigning champion Jimmie Johnson on a late restart and then held him off to claim his second victory of the season and move into close championship contention.

Although Johnson was the driver to beat for most of the day, leading a race-high 157 laps, his Penske rival surged on the penultimate restart to grab the lead as the reigning champion spun his tyres while powering off under the green flag.

Busch made the most of his rival's mistake to take the lead and never look back as Johnson started getting pressure from a charging Carl Edwards, who recovered from a pit-road penalty. In the end the Penske driver was able to manage a further restart and then traffic, keeping a gap at the front while Johnson did enough to keep Edwards in his mirrors.

The 2004 Cup champion had led the race early on but as the track rubbered in he seemed to lose pace relative to his rivals. The right adjustments and good strategy calls enabled him to get back in contention for a victory that seemed unlikely at first given Johnson's dominance.

Busch's second win of the season means he jumps up in the Chase standings to fourth place, as the play-off ranking was shaken following a bad day for previous leader Tony Stewart, who struggled throughout the weekend and finished two laps down in 25th.

"I just wanted to get out in front of [Jimmie] Johnson," said Busch about the decisive restart on lap 359 out of 400. "The first restart, I was on the high side. I didn't know what to choose, low or high.

"I just wanted to get that jump on him and stretch our lead because I thought that he would reel us back in with about 10 to go. We just had to maintain and bring our Dodge Charger to victory lane."

Johnson had looked dominant on the long green-flag runs but that speed didn't transpire in the final stint of the race while in dirty air behind Busch. The reigning champion lamented letting a possible win slip away but his second-place finish enabled him to get back in the thick of the title battle, moving up five spots in the Chase ranking.

"I blew it by spinning the tyres," Johnson said. "Kurt got a good launch, and we were door to door going into one, and he was able to get by on the outside.

"And then the next [restart], I was going to try to do that same thing back to him, and I was just trying to time when he was going to accelerate. I didn't time it right, had too big of a gap, and fell in behind him going into turn one."

Roush Fenway's Edwards could have also been a threat for victory had he not been forced to come back from a lap down following his pit-road penalty. He crossed the finish-line right behind Johnson and grabbed enough points to join Kevin Harvick in the lead of the play-off.

"That's the first time I've been caught speeding on pit road all year, but I've done it like 15 times in the Nationwide Series," said a frustrated Edwards.

Red Bull's Kasey Kahne gave his team some hope with a solid run to fourth-place, looking like a victory contender at stages but having his charge for the lead cut by one of the caution periods in the second half of the race.

Edwards' team-mate Kenseth was a top-five contender for most of the day but lost track position after his final stop, taking four tyres while most of the leaders took only two. He moved up from ninth to fifth in the closing laps and remains seventh in the championship.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch was sixth but lost two places in the Chase standing, while AJ Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose rounded a good day for Richard Petty Motorsports with seventh and ninth respectively, split by Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer.

Harvick now shares the Chase lead with Edwards, while Stewart's tough weekend means he drops to third, now nine points behind in the title race. It was a rough day for the Stewart-Haas organization as a whole, as Ryan Newman also finished two laps down in 23rd. Neither car had the speed to run close to the top-ten all day.

Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon was 12th and has dropped in the standing as well, while his team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr had to pit under green for a suspected loose wheel late in the race and was unable to get back on the lead lap finishing in the middle of the two Stewart-Haas drivers.

Penske's Brad Keselowski ran out of sequence at one stage while trying to make up ground following a power-steering issue that dropped him out of the lead lap. Although he was able to get back in it, he wouldn't make further progress and crossed the finish-line 20th.

Results - 400 laps: Pos Driver Team/Car Time/Gap 1. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge 3h30m59.908s 2. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet + 0.908s 3. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford + 1.149s 4. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota + 3.744s 5. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford + 5.450s 6. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota + 7.855s 7. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford + 8.344s 8. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet + 9.858s 9. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford + 11.310s 10. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet + 11.873s 11. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet + 12.207s 12. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet + 12.392s 13. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota + 13.069s 14. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota + 14.425s 15. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 15.205s 16. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet + 15.353s 17. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet + 15.510s 18. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota + 16.035s 19. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet + 16.358s 20. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge + 16.951s 21. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford + 1 lap 22. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet + 2 laps 23. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 2 laps 24. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet + 2 laps 25. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet + 2 laps 26. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota + 2 laps 27. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford + 3 laps 28. David Gilliland Front Row Ford + 3 laps 29. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota + 3 laps 30. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota + 4 laps 31. Landon Cassill Phoenix Chevrolet + 5 laps 32. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet + 5 laps 33. Andy Lally TRG Chevrolet + 6 laps 34. JJ Yeley Front Row Ford + 10 laps 35. Casey Mears Germain Toyota + 34 laps 36. Mike Bliss FAS Lane Ford + 54 laps Retirements: Josh Wise Max Q Ford 56 laps Reed Sorenson Gordon Dodge 52 laps Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 49 laps Michael McDowell HP Toyota 44 laps David Stremme Inception Chevrolet 31 laps Scott Speed Whitney Ford 24 laps Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 12 laps

Truex takes pole at Dover

Martin Truex Jr beat NASCAR Sprint Cup title contender Kurt Busch to pole position for Sunday's Chase race at Dover International Speedway.

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver set a fastest lap of 22.641 seconds at an average speed of 159.004 mph, beating Penske's Busch by just three thousandths of a second to claim his first pole position of the season at the track where he got his only Cup victory thus far, back in 2007.

"We've had a really good car the last couple of times we've been here," said Truex. "The team did an awesome job tuning it up for qualifying. Hopefully tomorrow we'll put it all together but it was just a great lap."

He added: "We worked through a lot of things yesterday in practice and felt like the car was good. Then we went to the second practice and fought some things. But I think we found a little bit of an issue in the car and we'll have it dialled in."

Chase contenders ended up spread through the 43-car field, although four of the 12 title hopefuls claimed top-six starting spots.

Richard Childress Racing's Paul Menard, who had been fastest in the opening practice on Friday and among the most consistent in the second one, set the third fastest time of the session after running last in the order.

Behind Menard, Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards was fourth, Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch fifth while six-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was sixth fastest, his best result in qualifying during the Chase so far.

Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger was seventh ahead of JTG Daugherty's Bobby Labonte, who held provisional pole for a good portion of the session. Red Bull's Kasey Kahne and Roush's Greg Biffle - a two-time Dover winner - rounded out the top 10.

Chase leader Tony Stewart, who struggled during Friday's practice, had yet another lacklustre qualifying effort - finishing 28th, which will be his worst starting position since the play-off started.

Even further back than the two-time champion was Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon, who was 34th fastest, his worst in qualifying during the whole season.

Josh Wise was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 26th, while Mike Skinner was the only driver who failed to qualify after slapping the wall during his run.

Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap 1. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 22.641s 2. Kurt Busch Penske Dodge 22.644s + 0.003s 3. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 22.689s + 0.048s 4. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 22.705s + 0.064s 5. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 22.706s + 0.065s 6. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 22.712s + 0.071s 7. AJ Allmendinger Petty Ford 22.723s + 0.082s 8. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 22.738s + 0.097s 9. Kasey Kahne Red Bull Toyota 22.744s + 0.103s 10. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 22.761s + 0.120s 11. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 22.801s + 0.160s 12. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 22.826s + 0.185s 13. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 22.829s + 0.188s 14. David Reutimann Waltrip Toyota 22.831s + 0.190s 15. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 22.832s + 0.191s 16. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 22.832s + 0.191s 17. Mark Martin Hendrick Chevrolet 22.849s + 0.208s 18. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 22.857s + 0.216s 19. David Ragan Roush Fenway Ford 22.866s + 0.225s 20. Ryan Newman Stewart Haas Chevrolet 22.878s + 0.237s 21. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 22.901s + 0.260s 22. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 22.905s + 0.264s 23. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 22.924s + 0.283s 24. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 22.935s + 0.294s 25. Landon Cassill Phoenix Chevrolet 22.956s + 0.315s 26. Josh Wise Max Q Ford 22.960s + 0.319s 27. Clint Bowyer Childress Chevrolet 22.964s + 0.323s 28. Tony Stewart Stewart Haas Chevrolet 22.965s + 0.324s 29. Scott Speed Whitney Ford 23.005s + 0.364s 30. Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 23.013s + 0.372s 31. David Stremme Inception Chevrolet 23.040s + 0.399s 32. Travis Kvapil Front Row Ford 23.043s + 0.402s 33. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 23.068s + 0.427s 34. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 23.082s + 0.441s 35. Michael McDowell HP Toyota 23.097s + 0.456s 36. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 23.120s + 0.479s 37. Andy Lally TRG Ford 23.132s + 0.491s 38. Reed Sorenson Gordon Dodge 23.136s + 0.495s 39. Casey Mears Germain Toyota 23.158s + 0.517s 40. Mike Bliss FAS Lane Ford 23.170s + 0.529s 41. Dave Blaney Baldwin Chevrolet 23.227s + 0.586s 42. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 23.263s + 0.622s 43. JJ Yeley Front Row Ford 23.273s + 0.632s 44. Mike Skinner Germain Toyota 23.404s + 0.763s