Cup Leader Johnson On Texas Pole

FORT WORTH, Texas -- Jimmie Johnson finished his qualifying run at Texas with the fastest lap on the day, then stayed in his car while waiting to see if anybody would knock him off the pole.

It turned out the same way it did a week earlier in Martinsville.

When the Sprint Cup points leader finally climbed out of the cockpit of his No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet more than 30 minutes later Friday, after Brad Keselowski and the rest of the field failed to top his lap of 191.076 mph, he was the polesitter for the second week in a row.

Johnson's 29th career pole is his first at Texas, where he was the runner-up in April.

With his win from the pole at Martinsville, Johnson regained the series points lead, by two over Keselowski.

Johnson was the 20th car on the track for Texas qualifying.

Keselowski was the 44th of 46 drivers who did qualifying runs. His lap of 189.534 mph was good for the eighth spot. He also qualified eighth his last two races at the 1½-mile high-banked track, where he has never had a top-10 finish.

It was the best qualifying effort for Keselowski since the 12-driver championship chase started two months ago. He's trying to win the first Sprint Cup championship for Roger Penske.

Johnson has finished in the top 10 in 13 of his 18 starts at Texas Motor Speedway, where all around the facility are election-style signs touting the top two challengers for the NASCAR Sprint Cup championship with three races left.

In April at Texas, Johnson was the runner-up to Greg Biffle, who will start his No. 16 Ford on the front row Sunday after qualifying second at 190.382 mph.

Kyle Busch qualified third, just ahead of Clint Bowyer, who is third in the Sprint Cup standings behind Johnson and Keselowski.

Kasey Kahne, who is fourth in season points, qualified 13th.

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