Jimmie Johnson is off to a good start headed into Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford 400. He qualified his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet on the pole with a fast lap of 31.049 seconds at 173.919mph. Johnson currently leads the series’ point standings and is may win his 4th consecutive Sprint Cup title this weekend.

Behind Johnson, two drivers matched their best starting positions of the 2009 season.

Scott Speed in the No. 82 Red Bull Toyota will start 2nd in Sunday’s race. He also started 2nd at the race in Chicago back in July.

Marcos Ambrose will roll off third in his No. 47 Little Debbie/Kingsford/Clorox Toyota after a fast lap of 31.272 seconds at 172.678. Ambrose also qualified third the road course race at Infineon in June.

The 2nd place driver in the point standings, Mark Martin who trails Johnson by 108 points, will start Sunday’s race from the 4th position while Tony Stewart rounded out the top-5.

Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman and Greg Biffle will start 6th, 7th and 8th, respectively followed by NASCAR veteran Bill Elliott. Elliott has never earned a victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway but came within half a lap of the win back in 2003 when he blew a tire and lost to Bobby Labonte.

Clint Bowyer completed the top-10 in the qualifying session.

The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford 400 is scheduled to broadcast on ABC at 2:30pm ET on Sunday.

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