Jimmie Johnson scores first pole of the season at New Hampshire

For Johnson, it was his 35th career Cup pole and his first of 2016. After running 15th in first practice, Johnson was surprised with his result.

“Especially the way practice ended,” said Johnson, who has three victories at NHMS. “We felt like something was broken on the car. You’re just on edge, there’s so little banking and so little grip…I was happy to get it.”

Johnson added, "The car was fast in all the sessions, a little tight, but we kept progressing, we kept our lap count down which was really important and was able to advance to the next round on the first lap, so just really happy. It was a trying day for sure, but just so proud of this whole race team. Huge thanks to all the support from Lowe’s and all the employees at Lowe’s.  They are behind us each and every weekend and we are very appreciative of that. Great support at Hendrick Motorsports and also Chevrolet. Just a great day.”

Kyle Busch will roll off second for the New Hampshire 301 on Sunday after posting a lap of 133.830 mph.  

“Lost some time coming to the start-finish line,” Busch quipped. “No one else’s fault but mine.”

Martin Truex Jr. (133.371 mph) was third followed by Kurt Busch (133.059 mph) Denny Hamlin and Joey Logano (132.915 mph. 

Completing Rows 4 through 6 are rookie Chase Elliott (132.720 mph) Kevin Harvick (132.697 mph), Brad Keselowski (132.692 mph), AJ Allmendinger (132.618 mph), Kasey Kahne (132.126 mph) and Tony Stewart (131.989 mph).

Round 2

With less than four minutes remaining, Kyle Busch posted the top lap of the session with a speed of 134.080 mph.

Busch knocked Denny Hamlin (133.343 mph) to second followed by the Hendrick Chevys of Chase Elliott (133.105 mph), Kasey Kahne (133.066 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (133.035 mph). 

Joey Logano (133.026 mph) was the top Ford to transfer, followed by Tony Stewart (133.007 mph) and Brad Keselowski (132.998 mph). Kevin Harvick had to run four laps to achieve a speed of 132.905 mph which stood up for ninth with Kurt Busch (132.859 mph), AJ Allmendinger (132.840 mph) and Martin Truex Jr. (132.827 mph) also moving on.

Carl Edwards posted the 13th fastest time and missed the cut by 0.001 mph.

Alex Bowman, substituting for Dale Earnhardt Jr., qualified 20th. “I feel like our second to last race run was really strong towards the end of practice, so happy with that. I felt like we probably could have qualified a little better there. I probably didn’t do the best job I possibly could have and we got a little too tight off.  So, just part of it. I think we have a really good car."

Complete Q2 results

Round 1

Joey Logano leapfrogged to the top of the speed chart with just over five minutes remaining in the first session. Logano posted a lap of 133.166 mph on his first and only run. 

Denny Hamlin achieved a lap of 133.054 mph running two laps and knocked Kurt Busch down to third.

“It’s a little slimy out there so I pushed a bit harder,” Busch said after running a lap of 132.831 mph.

Matt Kenseth was fourth (132.827 mph) after two laps, followed by Kevin Harvick (132.794 mph), Martin Truex Jr. (132.706 mph), Austin Dillon (132.581 mph), Chase Elliott (132.526 mph), Carl Edwards (132.429 mph), Kyle Busch (132.347 mph), Casey Mears (132.250 mph) and Kyle Larson (132.163 mph) completed the top 12 to transfer from Round 1. 

Also moving on were Alex Bowman, who is filling in for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy, Ryan Blaney, Kasey Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, Matt DiBenedetto, David Ragan, AJ Allmendinger, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Paul Menard and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 

Ryan Newman, who was sixth in first practice and ran a lap of 131.501 mph in time trials, was 25th on time and the first car not to move on to Round 2. So what went wrong?

“I’m not real sure,” Newman said. "We had a really good Whelen Chevrolet in practice and then qualifying practice and in race practice. Just never hooked up there in qualifying. I don’t know if a set of tires was a little bit off or what, just kind of surprised. Just kind of swatting flies inside the race car trying to figure out how to get it hooked up. We will kind of assess our situation. Not exactly where we want to qualify by any means, but know that we had a good car in practice today and we will get it ready for tomorrow.”

Complete Q1 results

The show must go on…

As teams continue to push the envelope with the cars, NASCAR pushed back in inspection. The cars of Kevin Harvick, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin, Ryan Blaney, Michael McDowell, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Trevor Bayne and Matt DiBenedetto were delayed making it to the grid for the start of qualifying as their teams worked to get through templates and/or the LIS (Laser Inspection Station). DiBenedetto was the final driver released, but all made it on track with enough time to spare.