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Martin Truex Jr. will start on pole at Phoenix International Speedway NASCAR race
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Martin Truex Jr. will start from the pole at Phoenix
Martin Truex Jr. captured his fourth career Sprint Cup pole Friday during qualifying laps for Sunday's Checkers O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway. Truex, who posted a lap of 26.643 seconds at 135.120 mph in grabbing his third pole of the season, will start on the front row beside Kurt Busch.
NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson will start third while Chase drivers Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin and Greg Biffle round out the top six starters..
Kyle Busch qualified seventh for Sunday’s race. “The Pedigree Camry drove pretty well,” said Busch, who won the November 2005 Sprint Cup race at Phoenix. “I felt like the balance was fine, but wish it ended up a little bit better. The sun popped out right before our lap, so not sure if that made a difference or not. I overdrove it off (turn) four just a little bit too. We’ve got a good racecar for Sunday and we’ll keep working on it tomorrow. We’ve got shelter dog Kasey, the Pedigree Luckiest Dog winner, on the right side of our car here this weekend, so I’m hoping that that will bring us a little luck too. Proud of the effort these guys put in today.”
Tony Stewart starts eighth on Sunday. “We’ll take that,” said Stewart, who scored the second of his 37 career Sprint Cup wins at Phoenix during his rookie season in November 1999. “That was a solid lap and it’ll give us a pretty good starting spot for Sunday.”
Stewart's teammate Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, qualified 24th. “That’s all I had out there today,” said Newman, who still holds the track qualifying record at Phoenix with a time of 26.499 seconds at 135.854 mph – a mark Newman set on Nov. 5, 2004. “I can’t complain about the car. I didn’t have any issues with the handling other than I was lacking grip. I just didn’t go any faster.”
Two races remain in the Sprint Cup season. The final race will be at Homestead-Miami on November 22.
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