LONG POND - If Friday's qualifying session is a sign of things to come for Sunday's Axalta 'We Paint Winners 400' then race fans are certainly in for quite an exciting day.

Kevin Harvick controlled the first two rounds of qualifying, but when it was all said and done Stewart-Hass driver Kurt Busch was the man standing in pit lane with the Coors Light Pole Award. Busch claimed the top spot with a lap time of 50.676 seconds (177.599 mph)There were some late third round dramatics as Denny Hamlin, who ranked second in the previous two sessions spun coming out of turn one. There was approximately 38 seconds remaining on the clock when the red flag waved, ending the session, which then declared Busch the pole winner."Today was a big day for this No. 41 team to develop into a contender this season," said Busch. "I'm actually very surprised we came away with the pole. Our gear ratio wasn't right in practice, but our guys came together, especially our engineers and crew chief Tony Gibson. We were good in the first two sessions and then we were money in the final one. This was just a great day for our team and it's so satisfying to be sitting up here at this podium with the pole."It comes as no surprise that a Stewart-Haas machine would come home with the pole as they're affiliated with Hendrick Motorsports in the engine department. It's also no secret that Hendrick cars have dominated at Pocono over the years, winning the last five races at the "Tricky Triangle" and 17 overall.Hendrick driver Jimmie Johnson has three wins at Pocono and actually swept the summer series back in 2004. Johnson expects much of the same come Sunday from the Hendrick horsepower."This has been a great track for all the Hendrick cars and we've all had speed here the years," said Johnson. "Clearly Dale Earnhardt Jr. swept both races here last year and my memory is saying that we were very strong here as well. Then you look outside of the box and you have our relationship with SHR and there are some fats cars over there too. I think our cars will be pacing the field through a large part of the weekend."Another big story line that surfaced on Friday had more to do with the condition of the track than the actual racing. Pocono International Speedway was just paved a few years ago, but it seems drivers are a little worried about a bumpy section on the high side of the tunnel turn or turn two.The bumps or "grocery store parking lot bumps" as Kurt Busch referred to them as, were the talk of the garage area on Friday. There was much discussion on how to adapt to the bumps and how to set up the car for race trim come Sunday."They created a beautiful entry way for when you enter the infield from outside the track, but for some reason on the track the top part of that entry way was compromised," said Busch. "There's nothing you can do about now and it is what it is. Mentally, you just have to try and ignore the tunnel turn and focus on the whole track. You start to get in trouble when you over compromise for the bumps because that gets the car off balance."Carl Edwards, Martin Truex Jr., Jeff Gordon, and Kevin Harvick rounded out the top five in qualifying on the day. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 20th, which doesn't bode well for his attempt to win three straight races at Pocono. Earnhardt Jr. qualified in the top 10 both races at Pocono in 2014.Lastly, Jeff Gordon will be carrying a few more fans on Sunday as he is sporting the blue and white and the logo Penn State University on his Axalta Chevrolet. According to Penn State University the partnership and program between Axalta and PSU is designed to drive awareness and support for STEM and business education, and will focus on students currently engaged in the study of engineering and business.