Rory Phoulorie
Zorce Jedi Knight
Joined: 26 Jan 2007
Posts: 1698
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 Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2007 1:37 pm Post subject: |
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Hamlin takes Martinsville pole.
Denny Hamlin will start NASCAR's second race with its Car of Tomorrow from pole position after leading Friday's critical Bud Pole qualifying session at the half-mile Martinsville Speedway.
With overtaking expected to be tougher than ever around the paperclip shaped oval with the new vehicles, Joe Gibbs Racing's Hamlin gave himself the best chance of steering clear of the expected carnage by putting down a best lap of 19.911secs (95.103mph) early in the session.
The only driver to qualify after Hamlin who gave the #11 FedEx team a nail biting wait was Roush-Fenway Racing's #26 team and driver Jamie McMurray who, after a similar qualifying effort last week at Bristol has so far shown himself the best prepared of the Ford teams in qualifying trim. McMurray's best lap of 19.942secs was three hundredths slower than Hamlin and good enough for a place on the outside of the front row.
Jeff Gordon, who qualified first of the 49 entries, sat on the pole until Hamlin came along and ended the session as the only other driver under 20 seconds with a best time of 19.964secs in third place on the grid. Behind Gordon came the first of the drivers whose teams aren't in the top 35 in owner points, veteran Ken Schrader in the #21 Wood Brothers Ford.
Hamlin's teammate JJ Yeley will start fifth ahead of Kevin Harvick, Tony Stewart, Dale Earnhardt Jr, Carl Edwards and Johnny Sauter who, for the first time this year, had a guaranteed grid position with his #70 Haas CNC Racing team.
With less than half a second covering Hamlin and 43rd place starter David Reutimann there were plenty of surprises in qualifying with Tony Raines putting the #96 Hall of Fame Racing Chevrolet 11th on the grid, two places ahead of Jeremy Mayfield, who successfully qualified for his second race this year with the #36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota team.
Raines and top Toyota man Mayfield sandwiched the leading Dodge Avenger, that of Penske Racing's Kurt Busch who was left to lead the Mopar charge after Evernham Motorsports usually stout qualifying form deserted them. Elliott Sadler, a top five starter on several occasions this year in the #19 Evernham Dodge, will start 18th while prolific front row starter Kasey Kahne could only manage 41st fastest time.
Bristol winner Kyle Busch will start 14th with Jeff Burton, last Sunday's runner-up, starting 19th. Juan Montoya looked far more comfortable on this short track than the high banks of Bristol and qualified 23rd and while Roush-Fenway's McMurray will start from the front row, Matt Kenseth and Greg Biffle have a tough job on their hands after qualifying only 33rd and 34th fastest.
With Schrader and Mayfield both starting inside the top 15 the battle for the non-guaranteed grid slots was intense, although all teams that started the year inside the top 35 but fell out during the first five races successfully made it in. Bill Davis Racing's Dave Blaney will start 22nd with Evernham Motorsports' Scott Riggs 26th.
With rookie Reutimann's late effort spelling even more heartbreak for team owner Michael Waltrip, the final three grid positions were filled by Dale Jarrett, Mike Bliss and AJ Allmendinger, who qualified for his second Cup Series race in a row.
Failing to qualify alongside Waltrip were Paul Menard, Kenny Wallace, Kevin Lepage, Brian Vickers and Ward Burton.
http://www.crash.net/news_view~cid~2~id~145443.htm |
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