HOMESTEAD, Fla. — If qualifying is any indication of how the championship race might shape up in Sunday’s NASCAR season finale, Jimmie Johnson appears to have an edge over Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick.

Kasey Kahne turned a lap of 176.904 mph to win the pole at Homestead-Miami Speedway Friday, but the focus was on the Sprint Cup series’ three title contenders.

Johnson qualified sixth, while Harvick was 28th and Hamlin was 38th on the speed chart — although he’ll actually line up in the 37th spot on Sunday because of NASCAR’s qualifying rules for teams that aren’t in the top 35 in points.

Hamlin, who has a 15-point lead over Johnson and 46-point lead over Harvick going into Sunday, wasn’t panicking.

“Our car’s going to be fine (Sunday), we know that,” Hamlin said. “And this is a track where you can pass. We’re looking forward to that part of it.”

A poor qualifying effort certainly didn’t matter at Homestead last year, when Hamlin won the race after qualifying 38th. And Hamlin has put himself in position to win the championship this year despite not qualifying particularly well all season.

“Fridays have just never been our strong suit,” Hamlin said. “So we’ve got to battle back again.”

Still, it’s another potential reason to worry for a driver who already is having his nerves tested. While qualifying might not be an accurate indication of how fast Hamlin’s car might be in the race, he’ll still have to avoid trouble as he picks his way through the field Sunday.

Earlier Friday, Johnson joked that he, Hamlin and Harvick have been having a “a world class pillow fight” in qualifying of late. All three drivers have qualified 17th or worse for each of the last two races, although Johnson was happy to break out of that mold.

“It’s not ideal, but I think we’ve all shown that you don’t have to qualify up front to run up front,” Johnson said.