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Saturday, 25 June 2011 04:00 |
 Negotiating the right and left hand turns at Infineon Raceway like a veteran road course racer, Joey Logano won the pole for the Toyota/Save Mart 350.
The Coors Light Pole Award was the second for Logano, who posted a lap at 93.256 mph and watched as the 12 drivers who followed him in Friday's time trials failed to run faster.
Jamie McMurray (93.223 mph) qualified second, and Paul Menard (93.176 mph) claimed the third starting position for Sunday's race, the 16th of the season in the Sprint Cup Series.
Winning the pole was a welcome change for Logano, who has but one top five finish this season and is 23rd in the Cup standings.
Those who might have expected road course aces Juan Pablo Montoya or Marcos Ambrose to top the qualifying speed chart got a surprise, especially when Montoya posted the seventeenth fastest time and Ambrose the eighth.
Denny Hamlin qualified fourth, followed by Ryan Newman, Kasey Kahne, A.J. Allmendinger and Marcos Ambrose.
Logano, who claimed that he found speed in his car after some post practice adjustments improved the handling said: "I never looked at myself as a road course racer. This is the last place that I figured we'd get a pole. After practice, I felt like we needed a lot more forward drive, a lot more side bite in the car, and they (the crew) made it happen.
"I was surprised. I felt like my lap was OK. I didn't feel like it was stellar, by no means. And it held up. We were watching the last three cars out, Kasey, who got the pole last year, Denny, our JGR team-mate, who's really good here, and Kurt, who was four tenths faster than everyone in practice and has gotten the last three poles.
"I didn't really think it was going to hold up, and I don't think any of my guys thought it was going to hold up, but we're really pumped up right now. We needed a good momentum change for our Home Depot team right now. We've been going through a little bit of a drought, and this is definitely going to help us a lot."
Infineon Raceway - Toyota/Save Mart 350 race line-up:
| Pos. |
N° |
Driver |
Car |
Sponsor |
Speed |
Time |
Gap |
| 1 |
20 |
Joey Logano |
Toyota |
The Home Depot |
93.256 |
76.821 |
Leader |
| 2 |
1 |
Jamie McMurray |
Chevrolet |
McDonald's |
93.223 |
76.848 |
-0.027 |
| 3 |
27 |
Paul Menard |
Chevrolet |
Duracell / Menards |
93.176 |
76.887 |
-0.066 |
| 4 |
11 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
FedEx Freight |
93.081 |
76.965 |
-0.144 |
| 5 |
39 |
Ryan Newman |
Chevrolet |
Haas Automation |
93.062 |
76.981 |
-0.16 |
| 6 |
4 |
Kasey Kahne |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
92.936 |
77.085 |
-0.264 |
| 7 |
43 |
A.J. Allmendinger |
Ford |
Best Buy |
92.935 |
77.086 |
-0.265 |
| 8 |
9 |
Marcos Ambrose |
Ford |
Stanley |
92.918 |
77.1 |
-0.279 |
| 9 |
33 |
Clint Bowyer |
Chevrolet |
Cheerios / Hamburger Helper |
92.83 |
77.173 |
-0.352 |
| 10 |
83 |
Brian Vickers |
Toyota |
Red Bull |
92.72 |
77.265 |
-0.444 |
| 11 |
22 |
Kurt Busch |
Dodge |
Shell / Pennzoil |
92.616 |
77.352 |
-0.531 |
| 12 |
48 |
Jimmie Johnson |
Chevrolet |
Lowe's / Jimmie Johnson Foundation |
92.561 |
77.398 |
-0.577 |
| 13 |
24 |
Jeff Gordon |
Chevrolet |
DuPont |
92.553 |
77.404 |
-0.583 |
| 14 |
56 |
Martin Truex Jr. |
Toyota |
NAPA Auto Parts |
92.545 |
77.411 |
-0.59 |
| 15 |
2 |
Brad Keselowski |
Dodge |
Miller Lite |
92.447 |
77.493 |
-0.672 |
| 16 |
5 |
Mark Martin |
Chevrolet |
Farmers Insurance / GoDaddy |
92.439 |
77.5 |
-0.679 |
| 17 |
42 |
Juan Montoya |
Chevrolet |
Cottonelle |
92.411 |
77.523 |
-0.702 |
| 18 |
88 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
Amp Energy / National Guard |
92.372 |
77.556 |
-0.735 |
| 19 |
18 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
M&M's Pretzel |
92.348 |
77.576 |
-0.755 |
| 20 |
14 |
Tony Stewart |
Chevrolet |
Office Depot / Mobil 1 |
92.184 |
77.714 |
-0.893 |
| 21 |
47 |
Bobby Labonte |
Toyota |
Clorox / Kleenex |
92.157 |
77.737 |
-0.916 |
| 22 |
16 |
Greg Biffle |
Ford |
3M |
92.096 |
77.788 |
-0.967 |
| 23 |
99 |
Carl Edwards |
Ford |
Scotts Ortho |
92.076 |
77.805 |
-0.984 |
| 24 |
78 |
Regan Smith |
Chevrolet |
Furniture Row Companies |
92.022 |
77.851 |
-1.03 |
| 25 |
31 |
Jeff Burton |
Chevrolet |
Caterpillar |
91.987 |
77.881 |
-1.06 |
| 26 |
29 |
Kevin Harvick |
Chevrolet |
Rheem Tankless Water Heaters |
91.818 |
78.024 |
-1.203 |
| 27 |
13 |
Casey Mears |
Toyota |
GEICO |
91.764 |
78.07 |
-1.249 |
| 28 |
7 |
Robby Gordon |
Dodge |
Speed Energy / GNC |
91.751 |
78.081 |
-1.26 |
| 29 |
34 |
David Gilliland |
Ford |
Taco Bell |
91.689 |
78.134 |
-1.313 |
| 30 |
51 |
Boris Said |
Chevrolet |
Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit |
91.603 |
78.207 |
-1.386 |
| 31 |
87 |
Joe Nemechek |
Toyota |
Hostetler Almonds |
91.406 |
78.376 |
-1.555 |
| 32 |
0 |
David Reutimann |
Toyota |
Aaron's Dream Machine |
91.388 |
78.391 |
-1.57 |
| 33 |
17 |
Matt Kenseth |
Ford |
Crown Royal |
91.315 |
78.454 |
-1.633 |
| 34 |
6 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
UPS "We Love Logistics" |
91.255 |
78.505 |
-1.684 |
| 35 |
177 |
P.J. Jones |
Dodge |
Speed Energy / GNC |
91.223 |
78.533 |
-1.712 |
| 36 |
36 |
Dave Blaney |
Chevrolet |
Big Red |
91.214 |
78.541 |
-1.72 |
| 37 |
60 |
Mike Skinner |
Toyota |
Big Red |
90.781 |
78.915 |
-2.094 |
| 38 |
66 |
David Mayhew |
Toyota |
HP Racing LLC |
90.561 |
79.107 |
-2.286 |
| 39 |
32 |
Terry Labonte |
Ford |
C&J Energy |
90.504 |
79.157 |
-2.336 |
| 40 |
181 |
Brian Simo |
Ford |
ARMA Energy |
90.346 |
79.295 |
-2.474 |
| 41 |
71 |
Andy Lally * |
Ford |
Interstate Moving Services |
90.303 |
79.333 |
-2.512 |
| 42 |
37 |
Chris Cook |
Ford |
"Rise of the Planet of the Apes" |
90.285 |
79.349 |
-2.528 |
| 43 |
46 |
Andy Pilgrim |
Chevrolet |
Red Line Oil |
89.885 |
79.702 |
-2.881 |
| Did not qualify |
| 44 |
38 |
Tony Ave |
Ford |
Long John Silver's |
89.717 |
79.851 |
-3.03 |
* Rookie
+ Set by Owner Points
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