Dale Earnhardt Jr. Bumps Kurt Busch Off The Pole For Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 At Pocono Raceway
Aug 04, 2007
CIA Stock Photo
The battle for the 12th and final qualifying spot for the Chase heated up Friday afternoon when Dale Earnhardt Jr. bumped Kurt Busch off the pole for Sunday’s Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway.
But in Earnhardt’s mind, it’s no battle at all.
Aug 04, 2007
Dale Earnhardt Jr. fell short of making NASCAR’s Chase for the Nextel Cup championship two years ago and didn’t like the way it felt.
With six races remaining until the start of this year’s Chase, Junior is flirting with missing it again, even though the field for the 10-race stock car playoff has been expanded from 10 to 12 drivers this year.
Aug 04, 2007
In Friday’s qualifying for the Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway, Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the battle between two drivers fighting for the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the NASCAR Nextel Cup.
In winning the pole for Sunday’s race, Earnhardt got an assist from the weather, as a brief rain shower interrupted his qualifying attempt with 10 drivers remaining on the grid. After the rain stopped, NASCAR allowed Earnhardt to put fresh tires on the No. 8 Chevrolet.
Aug 04, 2007
“The rain cooled the track down and the track dried fast so they didn’t have to run the blowers too much,” said Earnhardt Jr. “We kind of stole one today. We had a pretty good car, we were going to be about 10th or so, maybe 15th, so we have to credit the weather and Mother Nature for this one.”
Starting alongside Earnhardt Jr. will be Kurt Busch, who posted a time of 52.984 seconds.
