While it initially looked like Fords might dominate Friday afternoon at Kansas Speedway, it was a Toyota that took the top spot. Matt Kenseth, driving his No. 20 Toyota Camry, took the top spot from former teammate Carl Edwards. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was third followed by Sam Hornish Jr. Kyle Busch rounded out the top 5. Kenseth ran a time of 28.145 seconds at 191.864 mph, a new track record. In fact, the top four cars all beat the previous record of 191.360 mph.
While Kenseth was celebrating, however, Jeff Gordon was watching his team unload a backup car. While coming off of turn two, his car pitched loose and he backed into the outside wall. The car was damaged beyond repair and Gordon will now be forced to start from the rear of the field.
Several cars did brush the wall during qualifying, including Danica Patrick and Marcos Ambrose. However, Gordon’s car was the only one to suffer substantial damage.
The race begins at 1PM ET on Sunday.