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Saturday, 18 June 2011 17:17 |
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Page 1 of 5  Even without a spin during Friday's practice, Kurt Busch broke his routine at Michigan International Speedway to win his third consecutive Sprint Cup pole, the 15th of his career, for Sunday's Heluva Good! 400 at the 2 mile track when he completed his first lap in 38.156 seconds (188.699 mph) and edged David Reutimann by 0.003 seconds for Penske's fourth consecutive pole position streak started by Brad Keselowski at Charlotte in May.
In his previous two pole winning efforts, at Kansas and Pocono, Busch had spun during Friday's practice before claiming the top starting spot on Saturday.
Busch said: "This is the first time we've had a pole without spinning or wrecking our primary car. This was a conventional weekend, so to speak. The first few times after the changes that we made, the car was very different to drive. Basically, it came down to just core set-up in the car, and it came to the core pieces we're bolting onto the car. It's not like we changed chassis design overnight, but there are small things we've added there as well."
Busch lead David Reutimann (188.684 mph), Matt Kenseth (188.620 mph) in third, followed by Brian Vickers (188.157 mph) and Regan Smith (187.607 mph) in fourth and fifth while Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Kasey Kahne, Paul Menard and Denny Hamlin will start from positions six through 10, respectively.
Trevor Bayne qualified 17th for his first Cup race since being sidelined by illness after the April 17 event at Talladega.
Busch said the speed his team found in June is the result of a change of direction in the team's approach to engineering his cars.
Though Reutimann posted his season best qualifying effort, the driver of the #00 Toyota was clearly disappointed at not winning the pole said: "I put too much wheel to it and let it get loose, bobbled it. I don't know why I did that. You're supposed to unwind the wheel through there, right? The deal was, I felt like I cost us, and when you feel like you cost yourself a pole, especially when it's that close, you're disappointed.
"I'm happy that we qualified, but we should have been better than that. We should have had enough there. There are some times when you go out there and you leave it all on the race track, and you come in and go, 'I don't know what I could have done to go any faster.' This is just not one of those times, unfortunately."
Tony Raines, Brian Keselowski and Mike Skinner failed to qualify for the 43 car field.
Qualifying Fast Facts provided by NASCAR Statistics
Michigan International Speedway - 43rd ANNUAL HELUVA GOOD! SOUR CREAM DIPS 400
Coors Light Pole Winner: Kurt Busch
Age: 32
Team : #22 - Shell/Pennzoil Dodge
Owner: Walter Czarnecki
Crew Chief: Steve Addington
- Kurt Busch won the Coors Light Pole Award for the 43rd ANNUAL HELUVA GOOD! SOUR CREAM DIPS 400 with a lap of 38.156 seconds, 188.699 mph.
- This is his 15th pole in 379 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
- This is his third consecutive pole and eighth top 10 start in 2011.
- The last time a driver won three consecutive poles was Brian Vickers in 2009 (Note: Two qualifying sessions were canceled during the streak. The last driver to win three poles in three races was Ryan Newman in 2007.)
- This is Penske Racing's fourth consecutive pole. Brad Keselowski won the pole at Charlotte.
- This is his second pole in 21 races at Michigan International Speedway.
- David Reutimann (second) posted his fourth top 10 start of 2011 and his fourth in nine races at Michigan International Speedway.
- Matt Kenseth (third) posted his fourth top 10 start at Michigan International Speedway. It is his fourth in 15 races this season.
Michigan International Speedway - Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips 400 race line-up:
| Pos. |
N° |
Driver |
Car |
Sponsor |
Speed |
Time |
Gap |
| 1 |
22 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Shell / Pennzoil |
188.699 |
38.156 |
Leader |
| 2 |
0 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron's Dream Machine |
188.684 |
38.159 |
-0.003 |
| 3 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
Crown Royal |
188.62 |
38.172 |
-0.016 |
| 4 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
188.157 |
38.266 |
-0.11 |
| 5 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Companies |
187.607 |
38.378 |
-0.222 |
| 6 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Chevrolet |
Office Depot / Mobil 1 |
187.578 |
38.384 |
-0.228 |
| 7 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
American Red Cross |
187.554 |
38.389 |
-0.233 |
| 8 |
4 |
Kasey Kahne |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
187.534 |
38.393 |
-0.237 |
| 9 |
27 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Pittsburgh Paints / Menards |
187.485 |
38.403 |
-0.247 |
| 10 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Office |
187.436 |
38.413 |
-0.257 |
| 11 |
56 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota |
NAPA Auto Parts |
187.393 |
38.422 |
-0.266 |
| 12 |
51 |
Landon Cassill |
Chevrolet |
Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit |
187.232 |
38.455 |
-0.299 |
| 13 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
Chevrolet |
U.S. Army 236th Birthday / Bud Moore NASCAR Hall of Fame |
187.227 |
38.456 |
-0.3 |
| 14 |
1 |
Jamie McMurray |
Chevrolet |
McDonald's |
187.154 |
38.471 |
-0.315 |
| 15 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Amp Energy / National Guard |
187.13 |
38.476 |
-0.32 |
| 16 |
47 |
Bobby Labonte |
Toyota |
RainEater / Advance Auto Parts |
187.062 |
38.49 |
-0.334 |
| 17 |
21 |
Trevor Bayne |
Ford |
Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center |
187.032 |
38.496 |
-0.34 |
| 18 |
9 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Ford |
Dewalt |
187.023 |
38.498 |
-0.342 |
| 19 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
GoDaddy.com |
186.969 |
38.509 |
-0.353 |
| 20 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
UPS "We Love Logistics" |
186.732 |
38.558 |
-0.402 |
| 21 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe's / Kobalt Tools |
186.669 |
38.571 |
-0.415 |
| 22 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Budweiser |
186.669 |
38.571 |
-0.415 |
| 23 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Aflac |
186.601 |
38.585 |
-0.429 |
| 24 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
Snickers |
186.567 |
38.592 |
-0.436 |
| 25 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Chevrolet |
"Cars 2" |
186.553 |
38.595 |
-0.439 |
| 26 |
43 |
A.J. Allmendinger |
Ford |
Best Buy |
186.509 |
38.604 |
-0.448 |
| 27 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
Cheerios / Hamburger Helper |
186.403 |
38.626 |
-0.47 |
| 28 |
38 |
Travis Kvapil |
Ford |
Fellowship of Christian Athletes |
186.22 |
38.664 |
-0.508 |
| 29 |
87 |
Joe Nemechek |
Toyota |
NEMCO Motorsports |
185.821 |
38.747 |
-0.591 |
| 30 |
20 |
Joey Logano |
Toyota |
The Home Depot |
185.749 |
38.762 |
-0.606 |
| 31 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
Drive to End Hunger |
185.711 |
38.77 |
-0.614 |
| 32 |
30 |
David Stremme |
Chevrolet |
Inception Motorsports |
185.644 |
38.784 |
-0.628 |
| 33 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
Caterpillar |
185.553 |
38.803 |
-0.647 |
| 34 |
46 |
J.J. Yeley |
Chevrolet |
Red Line Oil |
185.304 |
38.855 |
-0.699 |
| 35 |
32 |
Mike Bliss |
Ford |
blu Cigs |
185.252 |
38.866 |
-0.71 |
| 36 |
71 |
Andy Lally * |
Ford |
TRG Motorsports |
184.777 |
38.966 |
-0.81 |
| 37 |
7 |
Robby Gordon |
Dodge |
Speed Energy |
184.686 |
38.985 |
-0.829 |
| 38 |
66 |
Michael McDowell |
Toyota |
HP Racing LLC |
184.573 |
39.009 |
-0.853 |
| 39 |
13 |
Casey Mears |
Toyota |
GEICO |
184.544 |
39.015 |
-0.859 |
| 40 |
34 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
Taco Bell |
184.44 |
39.037 |
-0.881 |
| 41 |
2 |
Brad Keselowski |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
184.176 |
39.093 |
-0.937 |
| 42 |
36 |
Dave Blaney + |
Chevrolet |
Golden Corral |
182.662 |
39.417 |
-1.261 |
| 43 |
181 |
Scott Riggs |
Chevrolet |
WhitneysCollision |
183.781 |
39.177 |
-1.021 |
| Did Not Qualify |
| 44 |
37 |
Tony Raines |
Ford |
Front Row Motorsports |
183.744 |
39.185 |
-1.029 |
| 45 |
192 |
Brian Keselowski * |
Dodge |
K-Automotive Motorsports |
182.463 |
39.46 |
-1.304 |
| 46 |
60 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Big Red |
181.538 |
39.661 |
-1.505 |
* Rookie
+ Set by Owner Points
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