FORT WORTH, Texas – Jimmie Johnson is back in the saddle again. After leading first practice at Texas Motor Speedway and the first two rounds of qualifying, the seven-time champion bumped his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott from the top spot with seconds remaining in the final round with a lap at 188.890 mph to win the pole for Sunday’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The Busch Pole Award is the first for Johnson in 96 races, 36th of his career and his second at the 1.5-mile track. RELATED: Starting lineup | Full schedule for Texas “It’s been a long couple of years and we still have a ways to go and certainly race day is much more important than Friday,” said Johnson after earning his 36th Monster Energy NASCAR Cup pole. “We’re working so hard and I think we’re a bit guilty of trying too hard and maybe stepping outside of our comfort zone at times and putting set-ups on the car that just quite aren’t proven yet. “With all that said, we were very aggressive coming here, changed a lot of stuff around on our mile-and-a-half program. Top of the charts all day long. It’s a great start. I’m really proud of everybody keeping the faith and working hard.” William Byron, who crossed the line after Johnson, topped Elliott for second in time trials. “That is just a credit to the guys really, just giving us a fast car,” Byron said. “Teamwork man. Just keeping the communication down to get that hole that we did. Just teamwork. So it’s all good. It’s awesome.” Daniel Suarez’s strategy of making a single-car run and not relying on the draft paid off for the driver of the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang. He finished fourth in Round 2 to advance to the Final Round. He’ll roll off fourth on Sunday. “I was planning to go by myself without helping anyone, so I waited until everyone was shut off so I could go quick and they didn’t have time to re-fire and then go,” Suarez said. “That part played out well. The part that we just missed a little bit is that we were expecting them to make more mistakes or to wait a little bit longer, but they didn’t. “It was a good effort. That was our gamble. We were out of trouble and the car was good, fast and we didn’t have to work as hard as they did that’s for sure.” WATCH: Bowman scrapes wall Austin Dillon, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Hemric, Joey Logano, Ty Dillon and Bubba Wallace rounded out the top 10. With four minutes remaining in the first round of qualifying, Alex Bowman bounced off the wall in Turn 2. He had posted the seventh-fastest lap to advance to the next round, but was unable to continue. Bowman was seen and released from the infield care center. “I think Alex would have been right there if he hadn’t had his problems in Round 1,” Johnson added. Jimmie Johnson, currently on a 65-race winless streak, has won seven times at Texas Motor Speedway in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series; including once from the pole (2012).<doc-sep>Hello? There's no Racing News down here. Where ya off to? Bob, this doesn't look good... Are you lost... The blue dot on the GPS won't help you here. It's probably too late to turn back now anyway. Baby Jessica, it appears you've fallen into the well. Like a mummy at night fightin' with bright lightnin'. I'm not here to save you. I'm just here for the ride. So, let me entertain you and everything will be fine. Have you had it up to here? That's Rock Bottom. Click here to exit the well.<doc-sep>It’s race day at Texas Motor Speedway, and we've got all the information you need to get ready for Sunday's O’Reilly Auto Parts 500, the seventh race in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series: START TIME: 3 p.m. ET (2 p.m. local). GREEN FLAG: 3:16 p.m. ET (2:16 p.m. local). NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Rusty Wallace will instruct drivers to start their engines at 3:07 p.m. ET (2:07 p.m. local). TV: Fox. Pre-race broadcast begins at 2:30 p.m. ET (1:30 p.m. local). RADIO: Performance Racing Network. STREAMING: Fox Sports Go. RACE DISTANCE: 334 laps around the 1.5-mile track for a total of 501 miles. STAGE LENGTHS (laps per stage): Stage 1: 85, Stage 2: 85, Stage 3: 164. NATIONAL ANTHEM: The 1st Cavalry Division Army Band will perform the anthem at 3:01 p.m. ET (2:01 p.m. local), followed by a flyover by a C-130J from the 314th Airlift Wing at Little Rock Air Force Base. WEATHER: Suprisingly chilly. The Weather Channel is calling for partly cloudy skies with temperatures in the mid 50s. LAST TIME: Kevin Harvick led 177 laps and edged Ryan Blaney by 0.447 seconds in overtime to win the playoff race last November. And one year ago, Kyle Busch nipped Harvick by 0.300 seconds to win the first of three consecutive April 2018 races. LINEUP: Jimmie Johnson won his 36th career pole and his first since July 17, 2016 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to lead a Hendrick Motorsports sweep of the top three spots, as qualifying again left at least one driver fuming over the chaos. Here is the lineup for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 500 (car number in parentheses): 1. (48) Jimmie Johnson, Chevrolet 2. (24) William Byron, Chevrolet 3. (9) Chase Elliott, Chevrolet 4. (41) Daniel Suarez, Ford 5. (3) Austin Dillon, Chevrolet 6. (11) Denny Hamlin, Toyota 7. (8) Daniel Hemric, Chevrolet 8. (22) Joey Logano, Ford 9. (13) Ty Dillon, Chevrolet 10. (43) Bubba Wallace, Chevrolet 11. (20) Erik Jones, Toyota 12. (2) Brad Keselowski, Ford 13. (12) Ryan Blaney, Ford 14. (21) Paul Menard, Ford 15. (34) Michael McDowell, Ford 16. (18) Kyle Busch, Toyota 17. (17) Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Ford 18. (6) Ryan Newman, Ford 19. (37) Chris Buescher, Chevrolet 20. (19) Martin Truex Jr., Toyota 21. (10) Aric Almirola, Ford 22. (42) Kyle Larson, Chevrolet 23. (4) Kevin Harvick, Ford 24. (88) Alex Bowman, Chevrolet 25. (14) Clint Bowyer, Ford 26. (95) Matt DiBenedetto, Toyota 27. (47) Ryan Preece, Chevrolet 28. (38) David Ragan, Ford 29. (36) Matt Tifft, Ford 30. (1) Kurt Busch, Chevrolet 31. (32) Corey LaJoie, Ford 32. (00) Landon Cassill, Chevrolet 33. (96) Parker Kligerman, Toyota 34. (51) BJ McLeod, Chevrolet 35. (15) Ross Chastain, Chevrolet 36. (52) Bayley Currey, Ford 37. (27) Reed Sorenson, Chevrolet 38. (77) Garrett Smithley, Chevrolet 39. (66) Timmy Hill, Toyota Follow Horrow on Twitter @EllenJHorrow<doc-sep>
The NASCAR Cup Series makes its way to Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday with green flag scheduled for 3 p.m. ET (streaming on fuboTV). Jimmie Johnson will start on the pole after sweeping qualifying ahead of Hendrick teammates William Byron and Chase Elliott. Johnson, a 60-to-1 value pick, has earned an all-time best seven wins at Texas however he has not seen Victory Lane in the Cup Series since the 2017 season. The No. 48 driver also has an all-time best five runner-up finishes at the track, so if there was ever a place to break a losing streak, Texas would be it for the seven-time champion. Kyle Busch is the betting favorite at 5-to-2, and for good reason. The No. 18 has already been to Victory Lane twice and has finished in the top 10 in all six races this season, including five top fives. He's also the defending winner at Texas, having taken the checkered flag there three times, including his first in 2013. Brad Keselowski, the other driver to win two races this season, is right behind him at 7-to-2. Keselowski has never won at Texas, but has finished second there twice. Additionally, Keselowski has eight top-10 showings in 21 starts including five top-five efforts. Here's a look at where Keselowski, Busch and Johnson line up for Sunday's race. Starting lineup for O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 Jimmie Johnson William Byron Chase Elliott Daniel Suarez Austin Dillon Denny Hamlin Daniel Hemric Joey Logano Ty Dillon Bubba Wallace Erik Jones Brad Keselowski Ryan Blaney Paul Menard Michael McDowell Kyle Busch Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Ryan Newman Chris Buescher Martin Truex Jr. Aric Almirola Kyle Larson Kevin Harvick Alex Bowman Clint Bowyer Matt DiBenedetto Ryan Preece David Ragan Matt Tifft Kurt Busch Corey LaJoie Landon Cassill Parker Kligerman BJ McLeod Ross Chastain Bayley Currey Reed Sorenson Garrett Smithley Timmy Hill Our Pick: Jimmie Johnson Yes, we're sipping the Kool-Aid this week with Johnson. The No. 48 driver was absolutely dejected after last week's 24th-place showing at Martinsville but seemed motivated heading into this week. We mentioned the accolades: Johnson is the all-time leader in wins and runner-up finishes at the track. So navigating his way to Victory Lane won't be difficult, but the question is and has been -- since Chevrolet transitioned to Camaro -- will he have the equipment? Not only did Johnson sweep qualifying but he pedaled the fastest car out there in practice as well. So if you give us 60-to-1 odds with the seven-time champ at one of his best tracks with a great car, you gotta take them. Plug-and-play DraftKings lineup Kevin Harvick ($10,700) Kurt Busch ($9,500) Clint Bowyer ($8,900) Jimmie Johnson ($8,000) Alex Bowman ($7,100) Michael McDowell ($5,700) So which drivers are must-backs in the 2019 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500? And which massive underdog shocks NASCAR? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard for the 2019 O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 from the nation's premier NASCAR handicapper, and find out. How to watch the O'Reilly Auto Parts 500