NASCAR at Indianapolis 2016 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Times and Reaction

Kyle Busch completed a Saturday qualifying sweep at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as he took the pole for Sunday's Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at The Brickyard after also winning the Xfinity Series pole earlier in the day.

Start	Driver	Time (Seconds)
1	Kyle Busch	48.745
2	Carl Edwards	48.768
3	Tony Stewart	48.826
4	Denny Hamlin	48.892
5	Brad Keselowski	49.022
6	Ryan Newman	49.126
7	Kevin Harvick	49.220
8	Martin Truex Jr.	49.315
9	Jamie McMurray	49.325
10	Kyle Larson	49.346
11	Kurt Busch	49.356
12	Austin Dillon	49.373
CUT 2
13	Jimmie Johnson	49.032
14	Joey Logano	49.107
15	Chase Elliott	49.162
16	Ricky Stenhouse Jr.	49.175
17	Ryan Blaney	49.228
18	Matt Kenseth	49.390
19	Greg Biffle	49.435
20	Trevor Bayne	49.456
21	Jeff Gordon	49.491
22	Chris Buescher	49.651
23	Paul Menard	49.670
24	Danica Patrick	49.984
CUT 1
25	AJ Allmendinger	49.135
26	Kasey Kahne	49.151
27	Michael McDowell	49.229
28	David Ragan	49.342
29	Aric Almirola	49.391
30	Matt DiBenedetto	49.428
31	Clint Bowyer	49.469
32	Brian Scott	49.535
33	Landon Cassill	49.630
34	Casey Mears	49.781
35	Cole Whitt	50.097
36	Ryan Ellis	50.274
37	Regan Smith	50.461
38	Michael Annett	50.568
39	Reed Sorenson	51.084
40	Patrick Carpentier	51.716
DID NOT QUALIFY
41	Josh Wise	52.737

Busch beat out Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Carl Edwards for the top spot and put himself in ideal position to repeat at IMS after winning in Indy for the first time last year.

The reigning NASCAR Sprint Cup points champion's pole-winning performance was made even more impressive by the fact he was involved in an accident during Friday's practice, as seen in this GIF courtesy of NASCAR:

While Busch enjoyed the most successful day, the biggest storyline was undoubtedly Jeff Gordon's return from retirement as a replacement for the injured Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 car.

As evidenced by this video from Hendrick Motorsports, the future Hall of Famer had to deal with tons of media attention ahead of his qualifying attempts:

Gordon reached the second round of qualifying, but he fell short of the final-round cut line and will start from 21st Sunday.

The Combat Wounded Coalition 400 at The Brickyard will mark the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race of Gordon's career in which he will drive a car other than the familiar No. 24.

While driving a different car and returning after eight months of retirement have forced him to make some adjustments, he feels confident entering the race, per Jeff Gordon Online:

Gordon is a five-time winner at his adopted home track, and NASCAR legend Mark Martin would love to see him return to Victory Lane:

The 93-time Sprint Cup race winner will have plenty of work to do in order to make that happen Sunday, but since he isn't racing for points personally, he has little to lose and can afford to take some risks.

Like Gordon, Tony Stewart generated plenty of interest during qualifying since Sunday will mark his final race at The Brickyard as a full-time competitor.  

Stewart is a two-time winner at Indianapolis, and he is quite comfortable at the track as a Columbus, Indiana, native.

Smoke impressively qualified third, and Xfinity Racing caught a glimpse of his final qualifying lap as a points racer at IMS:

Stewart missed the start of the season because of an injury, which put him in a difficult position in terms of qualifying for the Chase. After he secured an injury waiver, it meant the 45-year-old veteran would be forced to win a race and get inside the top 30 in points to have a chance to compete for a championship.

Stewart got the victory he sorely needed at Sonoma, and thanks to a recent string of great runs, he is also among the top 30.

His chances of making the Chase for the Sprint Cup currently look great, but picking up a second victory would almost certainly cement his place while also providing him with a career highlight.

The feel-good stories of Gordon and Stewart will bear watching Sunday, but thanks to Busch's continued dominance at The Brickyard, he enters the race as the unquestioned driver to beat.

Post-Qualifying Reaction

Despite Busch's recent success at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, qualifying has often been a struggle for him at the track. Because of that, he was especially happy to secure the pole Saturday, according to Reid Spencer of NASCAR.com:

"

I haven't been great at qualifying here, but the guys gave me a great piece this time around, and I'm real pumped about that. We're starting first in both of these (races), and hopefully we can end that way.

It means a lot [to win the pole]. It's definitely pretty special to be running the way that we're running and to have the success that we've had here the last couple of years at Indy, and I’d love nothing more than to try to win here again.

"

Stewart also finds himself in a good spot as the No. 3 qualifier, and he believes being near the front to start should give him a big advantage over most of the field, per the Associated Press (h/t Fox59.com): "It always helps when you can start up front and when you can up get there [sic] and get working on your car in clean air and plan for the end of the race—that's really an advantage."

Gordon didn't enjoy quite as much success in qualifying after returning from a long layoff, but he suggested he is finding his comfort zone after nabbing the 21st position, according to ESPN.com's Bob Pockrass:

"

I feel really good about the things we learned [Friday] at the end of practice. I would have liked to have started further forward. We've got some work to do and I look forward to the challenge.

It's a steep learning curve to be off the track this long and jump in here, but luckily I have a great race car and great race team that is going to help me get through it.

"

Gordon isn't necessarily expected to vie for the win after so much time away, but as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history, he may be one of the few capable of taking the checkered flag under such difficult circumstances.

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