NASCAR at Texas 2015 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Final Times and Reaction

The Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup is down to three races before a champion is crowned. 

Jeff Gordon has already secured a spot in the Championship Round at Homestead-Miami, leaving three remaining spots up for grabs heading into Sunday’s AAA 500 at Texas.

Brad Keselowski captured his third pole of the season and second in three weeks, with Chase drivers taking five of the top 10 starting spots, including the first four. NASCAR tweeted a view of Keselowski’s scorching 196.929 mile-per-hour lap:

Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano and Kyle Larson round out the top five. Chase contender Kurt Busch was seventh. 

Here’s a look at the rest of the qualifying results for the top 25 starters for Sunday:

Rank	Driver	Time (Seconds)
1	Brad Keselowski	27.421
2	Kevin Harvick	27.552
3	Kyle Busch	27.591
4	Joey Logano	27.663
5	Kyle Larson	27.644
6	Erik Jones	27.650
7	Kurt Busch	27.694
8	Jimmie Johnson	27.708
9	Denny Hamlin	27.740
10	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	27.767
11	Danica Patrick	27.934
12	Greg Biffle	28.361
13	Carl Edwards	27.644
14	Clint Bowyer	27.646
15	David Ragan	27.667
16	Kasey Kahne	27.672
17	Casey Mears	27.718
18	Jeff Gordon	27.744
19	Ryan Newman	27.755
20	Paul Menard	27.810
21	Brian Scott	27.810
22	Tony Stewart	27.819
23	Martin Truex Jr.	27.835
24	Aric Almirola	27.883
25	Ryan Blaney	27.618

Logano has been the class of the field in NASCAR’s playoffs after sweeping the Contender Round with three straight wins, but his title hopes are in question in light of a 37th-place finish last week at Martinsville after Matt Kenseth intentionally wrecked him.

Kenseth has been suspended for two races for the incident, and his appeal was denied. His actions were in retaliation for a skirmish between him and Logano at Kansas two weeks prior that left Kenseth’s title hopes dashed. 

The clash at Martinsville came when Logano was leading and Kenseth was 10 laps down, yet both were at the front of the field after a restart. Kenseth initially claimed his actions at Martinsville were not in retaliation—citing a blown tire causing him to rift up the race track—and the video, per NASCAR, doesn’t necessarily help his case:

Logano went from first to last in the points standings, but he can overcome the deficit with a win Sunday or next weekend at Phoenix. Any of the eight Chase drivers would automatically qualify for the Championship Round with a win in either of the next two races.

Kenseth’s substitute, 19-year-old Erik Jones, qualified sixth in what will be his second career Sprint Cup start. He finished 40th in the spring race at Kansas when filling in for Kyle Busch, who missed extensive time with leg injuries suffered in an Xfinity Series race at Daytona in February.

Two-time defending Texas winner Jimmie Johnson will start eighth. Six-time champion Johnson was eliminated from championship contention in the Challenger Round due to a 41st-place finish at Dover, Race 3 in the Chase. Johnson, a four-time winner in 2015, will look to rebound after finishes of 39th, third, 18th and 12th in the four races since being eliminated. He won this race last fall after having been eliminated already. 

Denny Hamlin and Dale Earnhardt, who each reached the Contender Round before being eliminated, rounded out the top 10. 

Texas is one of NASCAR’s fastest and most exciting tracks, which should create exciting racing in the championship hunt.