Junior Nation Sits on Texas Pole
Dale Earnhardt Jr. turned in the fastest lap during Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying for the Samsung 500, and for the sixth time through the first seven races, a Hendrick Motorsports car will lead the field to the drop of the green flag for the start of the race. Junior’s lap of 28.286 was about 2/10th’s of a second faster than the no. 99 Ford of Carl Edwards. There will be some diversity at the top of the grid on Sunday with Toyota and Dodge joining the mix thanks to the fast laps of Kyle Busch and Ryan Newman, and Jimmie Johnson rounds out the top-five.
In preparation for making only his second career Cup Series start, Michael McDowell found himself in trouble heading into Turn 1 during his qualifying run. McDowell’s 00 Toyota Camry shot up the race track and smacked hard against the SAFER barrier. The car then turned upside down and proceeded to roll about eight times before finally resetting right-side-up down the backstretch. McDowell was able to walk away from the spill under his own power, but the crash did delay qualifying for 72 minutes while cleanup crews worked their magic to get the track clear.
David Reutimann was forced to qualify this week based on time, and he responded well with a sixth place qualifying effort. Mike Skinner, Patrick Carpentier, John Andretti, Dave Blaney, and Joe Nemecheck all qualified their cars based on speed as well, while Dario Franchitti, Chad McCumbee, and Burney Lamar failed to make the show.
Starting Grid (from nascar.com):
|
SPONSOR |
BEHIND |
||||||
| 1 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / AMP Energy | 190.907 | 28.286 | Leader |
| 2 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 189.487 | 28.498 | -0.212 |
| 3 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Interstate Batteries | 189.069 | 28.561 | -0.275 |
| 4 | 12 | Ryan Newman | Dodge | Samsung HDTV / ALLTEL | 189.042 | 28.565 | -0.279 |
| 5 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 188.772 | 28.606 | -0.320 |
| 6 | 44 | David Reutimann | Toyota | UPS | 188.732 | 28.612 | -0.326 |
| 7 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | AAA Insurance | 188.534 | 28.642 | -0.356 |
| 8 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | DEWALT | 188.475 | 28.651 | -0.365 |
| 9 | 84 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Red Bull | 188.390 | 28.664 | -0.378 |
| 10 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Dodge | Budweiser | 188.245 | 28.686 | -0.400 |
| 11 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Dodge | Texaco / Havoline | 188.160 | 28.699 | -0.413 |
| 12 | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 188.140 | 28.702 | -0.416 |
| 13 | 66 | Scott Riggs | Chevrolet | State Water Heaters | 188.009 | 28.722 | -0.436 |
| 14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Ground | 187.990 | 28.725 | -0.439 |
| 15 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Jim Beam | 187.931 | 28.734 | -0.448 |
| 16 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | DISH Network | 187.865 | 28.744 | -0.458 |
| 17 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr.* | Dodge | Mobil 1 | 187.741 | 28.763 | -0.477 |
| 18 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 187.611 | 28.783 | -0.497 |
| 19 | 15 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Quaker State / Menards | 187.598 | 28.785 | -0.499 |
| 20 | 55 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | NAPA AUTO PARTS | 187.591 | 28.786 | -0.500 |
| 21 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Shell / Pennzoil | 187.493 | 28.801 | -0.515 |
| 22 | 5 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | Cheez-It / CARQUEST | 187.474 | 28.804 | -0.518 |
| 23 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Miller Lite | 187.311 | 28.829 | -0.543 |
| 24 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Toyota | The Home Depot | 187.195 | 28.847 | -0.561 |
| 25 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Jack Daniel’s | 187.156 | 28.853 | -0.567 |
| 26 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Dodge | Best Buy / Garmin | 187.007 | 28.876 | -0.590 |
| 27 | 10 | Patrick Carpentier* | Dodge | Valvoline | 186.981 | 28.880 | -0.594 |
| 28 | 21 | Bill Elliott | Ford | Motorcraft | 186.974 | 28.881 | -0.595 |
| 29 | 22 | Dave Blaney | Toyota | Caterpillar | 186.948 | 28.885 | -0.599 |
| 30 | 43 | Bobby Labonte | Dodge | Cheerios Racing / Sam’s Club | 186.935 | 28.887 | -0.601 |
| 31 | 8 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 186.793 | 28.909 | -0.623 |
| 32 | 26 | Jamie McMurray | Ford | Crown Royal Cask No. 16 | 186.645 | 28.932 | -0.646 |
| 33 | 96 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | DLP HDTV | 186.220 | 28.998 | -0.712 |
| 34 | 01 | Regan Smith* | Chevrolet | DEI / Principal Financial Group | 186.046 | 29.025 | -0.739 |
| 35 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Prilosec OTC | 185.995 | 29.033 | -0.747 |
| 36 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 185.752 | 29.071 | -0.785 |
| 37 | 34 | John Andretti | Chevrolet | Front Row Motorsports | 185.669 | 29.084 | -0.798 |
| 38 | 28 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Yates Racing | 185.631 | 29.090 | -0.804 |
| 39 | 70 | Jeremy Mayfield | Chevrolet | Haas Automation | 185.350 | 29.134 | -0.848 |
| 40 | 00 | Michael McDowell+* | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 182.933 | 29.519 | -1.233 |
| 41 | 38 | David Gilliland+ | Ford | Yates Racing | - | - | - |
| 42 | 41 | Reed Sorenson+ | Dodge | Target | - | - | - |
| 43 | 78 | Joe Nemechek | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / DenverMattress.com |
185.191 | 29.159 | -0.873 |
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2 opinions for Junior Nation Sits on Texas Pole
roc
Apr 5, 2008 at 7:23 am
t.z was that just not one of the worst looking wrecks you’ve every seen i was watching live luckly I was tivoing it.
Tim Zaegel
Apr 5, 2008 at 1:27 pm
Man, that wreck was a trip, alright. I never thought I’d see someone’s car roll more times than Sadler at Talladega, but this one definitely takes the cake.
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