Watkins Glen race postponed until Monday

Watkins Glen race postponed until Monday

 

By Reid Spencer
Sporting News NASCAR Wire Service

 

(August 14, 2011)

 

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.—A system of showers that camped out over the Finger Lakes region in upstate New York forced postponement of the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at the Glen until Monday at 10 a.m. ET.

 

The rain arrived right after Sunday’s driver introductions for the 22nd NASCAR Sprint Cup race of the season. When the race begins Monday, Kyle Busch will start from the pole next to second-place qualifier AJ Allmendinger.

 

ESPN will start its live coverage of the race at 10 a.m. ET.

 

All told, 15 drivers broke the track record during time trials for the second road-course race on the Cup schedule. Juan Pablo Montoya, the defending race winner, will start fifth behind Busch, Allmendinger, Marcos Ambrose and five-time defending Cup champion Jimmie Johnson.

 

Allmendinger said he’ll be ready to race whenever he’s called to the grid.

 

“It doesn’t bother me,” he said of the postponement. “Of course, you’d like to be racing right now, but this is part of it, and this is the way it works. (But) I know we’ve got a fast racecar, and when we drop the green, we’ll be there.

 

“I’m trying to just stay pretty relaxed and have fun with the guys. I’m just going to hang out and be ready when it’s time to go—whenever that is.”

 

Denny Hamlin, who spun his No. 11 Toyota into the guard rail during qualifying, will start 42nd on an owner points provisional. Hamlin, 11th in the Cup standings, is chasing 10th-place Dale Earnhardt Jr. for the final spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup that is determined on the basis of driver championship points.

 

Earnhardt, who leads Hamlin by 23 points, will start 25th Monday. With one victory, Hamlin currently holds the second provisional wild-card spot. Brad Keselowski, with two wins, currently is the first wild card.

 

Driving on a broken ankle sustained during Aug. 3 testing at Road Atlanta, Keselowski inserted himself into the wild-card picture last Sunday at Pocono, where he won for the second time this season. Keselowski is 18th in the Cup standings and must remain in the top 20 to take advantage of NASCAR’s wild-card provision, an enhancement to the Chase qualifying format adopted this year.

 

Series leader Carl Edwards, who holds a nine-point edge over second-place Johnson, will start eighth.