|
Sunday, 12 June 2011 02:00 |
 Though it may be deemed as unconventional, the method behind the madness, or the madness behind the method definitely seems to work for Kurt Busch as he won the pole for Sunday's 5 Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway after spinning his #22 Dodge in Friday's practice and doing enough damage to force the use of a backup car.
Busch circulated the 2.5 mile triangular track in 52.454 seconds (171.579 mph) in Saturday's time trials to win his second consecutive Coors Light pole award and the 14th of his career, a week after he spun in the Friday practice and won the pole in a Saturday qualifying session at Kansas Speedway.
Though Busch has used the 'spin-to-win' approach for the past two weeks, he would prefer not to make a habit of it.
"It's a matter of knowing where the edge is, but not stepping over it, honestly, I missed my shift point, and it got me into trouble. Just trying new things,changing the rear gear, changing the transmission, just being in a different zone of elements and changes. Normally, in the last three years, we haven't messed with gears at all. So it was cool to do that and mess with it, and it bit me, but [Saturday] I went right back after it. I was aggressive, and I used the same procedure I was using [Friday] in practice to get the pole [Saturday]," Busch said.
Busch crashed his primary car two laps into the second practice session on Friday, at that stage his crew had made significant adjustments to the #22 Dodge, So when the backup car rolled out of the trailer, Busch's crew had to work like crazy to install the same changes in the spare car.
Crew chief for the #22 Steve Addington said: "This 22 crew, the 2 car guys, everybody back at the shop, the fab guys here, what an effort. When we unloaded the backup car, we had made so many changes during practice with the primary car we didn't get a lot of track time with the backup. The work they did to get this car ready was awesome. To lay down a lap like that is pretty impressive, and that guy that sits behind the steering wheel isn't too damn bad, either."
Busch edged out Paul Menard (171.422 mph) and Jeff Gordon (171.350 mph) for the top starting position in Sunday's race with four time Pocono winner Denny Hamlin qualifying in fourth at 171.174 mph, one spot ahead of Regan Smith (171.164 mph).
Series points leader Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Mark Martin will start from positions 6 through 10, respectively.
Constant cloud cover over the track throughout the session made little difference to the track grip and temperature throughout the session.
Menard, the 43rd of 44 drivers to make a qualifying attempt said: "We really thought it would rain, so we posted a good lap in practice, which made us go out late. When you look at hourly forecasts, it was 70 degrees from start to finish, so the track conditions didn't change a lot. It might have gotten a little bit hotter, but I think we got a little bit of cloud cover right at the end of qualifying, so that probably helped."
Mike Skinner crashed during his qualifying run and failed to make the 43 car field.
Pocono Raceway - 5 Hour Energy 500 race line-up:
| Pos. |
N° |
Driver |
Car |
Sponsor |
Speed |
Time |
Gap |
| 1 |
22 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Shell / Pennzoil |
171.579 |
52.454 |
Leader |
| 2 |
27 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Pittsburgh Paints / Menards |
171.422 |
52.502 |
-0.048 |
| 3 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
DuPont |
171.35 |
52.524 |
-0.07 |
| 4 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Ground |
171.174 |
52.578 |
-0.124 |
| 5 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Companies |
171.165 |
52.581 |
-0.127 |
| 6 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Kellogg's / Cheez-it |
171.057 |
52.614 |
-0.16 |
| 7 |
9 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Ford |
Stanley |
170.836 |
52.682 |
-0.228 |
| 8 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation |
170.532 |
52.776 |
-0.322 |
| 9 |
0 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron's Dream Machine |
170.348 |
52.833 |
-0.379 |
| 10 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
Farmers Insurance / GoDaddy |
170.2 |
52.879 |
-0.425 |
| 11 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
UPS "We Love Logistics" |
170.177 |
52.886 |
-0.432 |
| 12 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
Cheerios / Hamburger Helper |
170.126 |
52.902 |
-0.448 |
| 13 |
1 |
Jamie McMurray |
Chevrolet |
McDonald's |
169.908 |
52.97 |
-0.516 |
| 14 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe's |
169.872 |
52.981 |
-0.527 |
| 15 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Chevrolet |
Mobil 1 / Office Depot |
169.856 |
52.986 |
-0.532 |
| 16 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Chevrolet |
Target |
169.702 |
53.034 |
-0.58 |
| 17 |
4 |
Kasey Kahne |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
169.671 |
53.044 |
-0.59 |
| 18 |
47 |
Bobby Labonte |
Toyota |
Clorox / Kleenex |
169.607 |
53.064 |
-0.61 |
| 19 |
20 |
Joey Logano |
Toyota |
The Home Depot |
169.52 |
53.091 |
-0.637 |
| 20 |
2 |
Brad Keselowski |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
169.501 |
53.097 |
-0.643 |
| 21 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
National Guard / Amp Energy |
169.447 |
53.114 |
-0.66 |
| 22 |
46 |
J.J. Yeley |
Chevrolet |
Red Line Oil |
169.444 |
53.115 |
-0.661 |
| 23 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
169.441 |
53.116 |
-0.662 |
| 24 |
71 |
Andy Lally * |
Ford |
TRG Motorsports |
169.37 |
53.138 |
-0.684 |
| 25 |
51 |
Landon Cassill |
Chevrolet |
Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit |
169.307 |
53.158 |
-0.704 |
| 26 |
38 |
Sam Hornish Jr. |
Ford |
Long John Silver's |
169.278 |
53.167 |
-0.713 |
| 27 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
Affliction Clothing: Live Fast |
169.224 |
53.184 |
-0.73 |
| 28 |
43 |
A.J. Allmendinger |
Ford |
Medallion Financial |
169.176 |
53.199 |
-0.745 |
| 29 |
87 |
Joe Nemechek |
Toyota |
AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves |
169.17 |
53.201 |
-0.747 |
| 30 |
34 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
Taco Bell |
169.119 |
53.217 |
-0.763 |
| 31 |
56 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota |
NAPA Auto Parts |
169.113 |
53.219 |
-0.765 |
| 32 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Okuma |
169.084 |
53.228 |
-0.774 |
| 33 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
Caterpillar |
168.932 |
53.276 |
-0.822 |
| 34 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
M&M's |
168.89 |
53.289 |
-0.835 |
| 35 |
13 |
Casey Mears |
Toyota |
GEICO |
168.666 |
53.36 |
-0.906 |
| 36 |
66 |
Michael McDowell |
Toyota |
HP Racing LLC |
168.218 |
53.502 |
-1.048 |
| 37 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
3M |
167.773 |
53.644 |
-1.19 |
| 38 |
37 |
Tony Raines |
Ford |
Black Cat Fireworks |
167.395 |
53.765 |
-1.311 |
| 39 |
181 |
Scott Riggs |
Chevrolet |
WhitneysCollision |
167.264 |
53.807 |
-1.353 |
| 40 |
36 |
Dave Blaney |
Chevrolet |
Golden Corral |
167.057 |
53.874 |
-1.42 |
| 41 |
32 |
Mike Bliss |
Ford |
U.S. Chrome / Southern Pride Trucking |
166.867 |
53.935 |
-1.481 |
| 42 |
7 |
Scott Wimmer + |
Dodge |
Speed Energy / Harris Teeter |
162.414 |
55.414 |
-2.96 |
| 43 |
150 |
T.J. Bell * |
Toyota |
Green Smoke |
166.633 |
54.011 |
-1.557 |
| Did not qualify |
| 44 |
60 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Big Red |
164.902 |
54.578 |
-2.124 |
* Rookie
+ Set by Owner Points
If you found this service informative please be kind and leave a tip.
|
|
|
|
|
NEWS by SERIES 
