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NASCAR at Miami 2016 Qualifying Results: Race Order, Final Times and Reaction
November 19, 2016
Kevin Harvick might have won the pole for Sunday's Ford Ecoboost 400 during Friday night's qualifying, but all eyes are going to be a little further down in the pack come race day.
Just one race and four drivers remain in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series' Chase to decipher the champion of 2016, and they're all starting right near each other.
With Sunday's race from Homestead-Miami Speedway, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano, Kyle Busch and Carl Edwards had a chance to create an early advantage on Friday with a strong qualifying round.
But Busch and Edwards will start in row No. 5, while Logano and Johnson are in row No. 7.
That means that no Chase driver has a clear advantage as we take a look at the qualifying results and race order:
| Ford Ecoboost 400 Qualifying Results | ||
| Rank | Driver | Time |
| 1 | Kevin Harvick | 30.399 |
| 2 | Brad Keselowski | 30.416 |
| 3 | Ryan Newman | 30.442 |
| 4 | Denny Hamlin | 30.475 |
| 5 | Chase Elliott | 30.492 |
| 6 | Martin Truex Jr. | 30.513 |
| 7 | Matt Kenseth | 30.594 |
| 8 | Ryan Blaney | 30.610 |
| 9 | Kyle Busch* | 30.689 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards* | 30.749 |
| 11 | Tony Stewart | 30.861 |
| 12 | AJ Allmendinger | 30.887 |
| 2nd Cut | ||
| 13 | Joey Logano* | 30.571 |
| 14 | Jimmie Johnson* | 30.635 |
| 15 | Jamie McMurray | 30.636 |
| 16 | Kurt Busch | 30.639 |
| 17 | Austin Dillon | 30.661 |
| 18 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr. | 30.688 |
| 19 | Alex Bowman | 30.742 |
| 20 | Trevor Bayne | 30.763 |
| 21 | Greg Biffle | 30.854 |
| 22 | Brian Scott | 30.860 |
| 23 | Casey Mears | 30.862 |
| 24 | Kyle Larson | 31.078 |
| 1st Cut | ||
| 25 | Aric Almirola | 30.841 |
| 26 | Michael McDowell | 30.862 |
| 27 | Chris Buescher | 30.863 |
| 28 | Paul Menard | 30.876 |
| 29 | Kasey Kahne | 30.911 |
| 30 | Danica Patrick | 30.916 |
| 31 | Matt DiiBenedetto | 30.980 |
| 32 | Landon Cassill | 31.030 |
| 33 | Clint Bowyer | 31.043 |
| 34 | Ty Dillon | 31.071 |
| 35 | Regan Smith | 31.087 |
| 36 | David Ragan | 31.299 |
| 37 | Reed Sorenson | 31.657 |
| 38 | Jeffrey Earnhardt | 32.012 |
| 39 | Dylan Lupton | 32.523 |
| 40 | Michael Annett | 32.558 |
| 41 | Gray Gaulding | 31.965 |
| *Denotes chase driver | ||
Johnson had to scramble just to make it to the second round after he was bumped from the top 24 with eight minutes left in the first.
He went back out with 1:40 left in the round while in 29th, but a spin-out from Landon Cassill forced the 48 team to scramble, cool the engine down and get rolling before the green flag came back out.
He did just that, making the cut by 0.025 seconds to get the No. 22 spot heading into the second round despite a crowded exit on pit row once the track reopened, via NASCAR on NBC:
The second round would be his last of the night, as he qualified in 14th.
It was all in a day's work for the six-time Sprint Cup champion, via Team Lowe's Racing:
Joey Logano also saw his qualifying night end early, as he finished one spot better than Johnson in 13th.
It seemed as though Logano was trying to convince everyone that he was content with his qualifying spot, via Lee Spencer of Motorsport.com:
Edwards was first to hit the track in the final round, but a tight run saw him set a slow time that was surpassed by the next five drivers who went out.
He heaped all the blame on himself after his round, via Joe Gibbs Racing:
Busch took off near the end of the round but didn't fare much better as he got loose on a pair of turns, throwing up sparks and slowing his time.
An unresponsive car is what held him back from doing even better, via Joe Gibbs Racing:
Like Logano and Johnson, Busch and Edwards will start back-to-back in ninth and 10th, respectively.
With such a tightly packed foursome of potential champions, expect even more drama on Sunday, as each driver won't hold anything back in an attempt to get to the front of the pack.
All qualifying did was ensure that they will interact with each other even earlier than expected with a championship at stake.
Stats courtesy of NASCAR.com.