Jimmie Johnson to start Talladega on the pole as NASCAR qualifying cancelled

October 31, 5:18 PMStewart-Haas Racing ExaminerRosalie Thompson

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Ryan Newman and teammate Tony Stewart talk during practice Friday at Talladega Superspeedway

AP Photo/John Bazemore

Current NASCAR Champion and points leader Jimmie Johnson will start Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway from the pole position after weather canceled qualifying.  The 43-car field was set by owner's points.

Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, will start second and third. Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya round out the top five drivers. Kurt Busch, Ryan Newman, Greg Biffle, Denny Hamlin and Carl Edwards make up the remainder of the top ten starting positions.

Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will start in the second row.  “I think everybody was somewhat conservative in practice (on Friday),” said Stewart, who is the defending winner of the AMP Energy 500. “I feel like the best car out there is Denny Hamlin’s, so we’re all trying to figure out how to keep up with him right now. We worked through the small list of things that Darian (Grubb, crew chief) had on his list to try in practice and we quit early.”

Stewart's teammate Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, will start seventh.  “I don’t know what to expect,” Newman said. “Nobody knows what to expect. This track has gone 500 miles green all the way and it’s had many yellows. We just look forward to the opportunity to have a good run with our U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet and move up in the points and try to get that first win of the year we talk about every week.”

Restrictor plate racing often leads to multi-car crashes at the superspeedways.  Jeff Gordon has a formula for avoiding "the big one" at Talladega.  "It seems simple, really," said the four-time NASCAR Cup Series champion. "Just be ahead of it or way behind it -- just don't be in the middle of it. Rarely do you escape when you are in the middle of it."

Only 43 drivers were slated to qualify for the 43-car grid so no drivers missed the show. The AMP Energy 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its prerace show at noon.
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