By Reid Spencer
NASCAR Wire Service
SONOMA,
Calif. – In Friday’s times trials at Sonoma Raceway, AJ Allmendinger
took his first small step toward the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup.
But
the giant leap toward that goal will have to wait until Sunday’s
Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the 1.99-mile track (3 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1),
where Allmendinger will try to win his second straight road course race
in NASCAR’s top series and stake his claim to a position in the Chase.
One
of the pre-race favorites—if not THE pre-race favorite—Allmendinger
toured the track in 1 minute, 14.385 seconds (96.310 mph), .166 seconds
faster than Kurt Busch (96.095 mph), whose money lap was aborted when
his brother, Kyle Busch, spun in Turn 10 to bring out a red flag with
7:03 left in the final 10-minute session.
Matt
Kenseth (96.001 mph) qualified third, followed by Kyle Larson (95.932
mph), who set a track record at 96.568 mph in the first round of
knockout qualifying, a 25-minute session that narrowed the field from 44
drivers to the fastest 12.
Larson’s
run eclipsed the mark of 96.350 mph established by Jamie McMurray last
year, but, like Kurt Busch, Larson saw his first run in the final round
interrupted by the caution.
Jeff Gordon (95.905 mph) will start fifth in his final race at Sonoma as a full-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver.
“It’s
a solid start, but the prize is tomorrow,” said Allmendinger, who
earned the third Coors Light Pole Award of his career and his first on a
road course. The pole was Allmendinger’s first since he started from
the top spot in the No. 22 Team Penske Ford at Kansas in April 2012.
“We
knew that, if we go do our job, and if I do my job tomorrow, and we
have solid pit stops, and we just take care of business, at the end we
should give ourselves a chance,” Allmendinger added. “And that’s all we
can ask for.”
Kurt
Busch thought his interrupted lap in the final round would have been a
pole winner, but he was happy to be starting up front, albeit from the
second spot.
“It’s
a nice package that (crew chief) Tony Gibson gave me, and all the guys
back at the shop,” Busch said. “Thanks to them for building this special
car for a road course race. There was a little apprehension coming in,
because we didn’t have testing sessions or any kind of shakedown
sessions.
“And
so, to be outside pole with the Haas Automation Chevy, that’s awesome.
That’s what we wanted. And now we’ve got all kinds of strategy plays to
figure out to get into race mode. So, we did our job. We’re on the front
row.”
Reigning series champion Kevin Harvick was fast in Friday’s practice, but he turned in a lackluster qualifying performance.
“What
section (of the course) didn’t I screw-up?” Harvick, who will start
17th, asked rhetorically. “This has just been something I’ve never been
very good at, as far as the qualifying thing here at Sonoma. Our
Budweiser/Outback/Folds of Honor Chevy is handling good and doing all
the good things that you want it to ... I was just too easy in (Turns)
2, 3, and 4 and okay down the hill and then got up the race track both
laps in (Turn) 11.
“So
that cost us three or four tenths both times. We have a good car. I’ve
got some cars to pass. We passed a lot of cars last year, but I’m just
not very good at the qualifying thing here, for whatever reason.”
Notes:
Brendan Gaughan failed to make the 43-car field. ... Dale Earnhardt Jr.
qualified 20th but will keep his starting position under road course
rules, despite a transmission change after time trials. Earnhardt’s No.
88 Chevy got stuck in second gear coming to green for his second
qualifying run. ... Danica Patrick will start 21st after a lap at 95.366
mph.
No comments:
Post a Comment