Jamie McMurray’s season regained momentum Friday as the driver of the No. 1 Chevrolet earned his second Coors Light Pole Award of the year at Auto Club Speedway.
McMurray streaked around the 2-mile track in 38.859 seconds (185.285 mph) to win his fourth pole of the season and the seventh of his career. Elliott Sadler (184.407 mph) claimed the second starting position for Sunday’s Pepsi Max 400. NASCAR.com
When this year started, the shrewdest pundit could not have predicted that McMurray would win four poles in the first 30 races - one more than he’d acquired in his nine-year Sprint Cup career - or won the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400 in his first year with a new team.
But at 34, McMurray has blossomed into one of the top drivers on the Sprint Cup tour and certainly one of the most affable. While some drivers are trudging along simply waiting for the year to end, McMurray continues to build his Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team with an eye on the future.
“For our team, we’re doing a really good job at doing what we couldn’t do at the beginning of the year - being consistent,” McMurray said. “We were not very consistent at the beginning of the season and I looked back to all the races since Chicago and we’ve been consistent. The days that we don’t have cars capable of running in the top five, we finish where we raced most of the day, or a little bit better.
“If we could have done that the first 26 races, we were fast enough to make the Chase. It’s very frustrating that we’re not in the Chase right now because we’ve run really well in all three of the Chase races, but it is what it is. We’re just getting our cars ready for next year and where they need to be.” FOXNews
Sadler earned the outside pole with a lap of 184.407 m.p.h. It’s the first time Sadler grabbed a spot on the front starting row since April 2008 at Phoenix.
“It feels good to qualify like that,” Sadler said. “It’s been a good day for us. We knew we were good in practice. I just needed to make a really good lap, and I was able to do that today.”
Matt Kenseth was the highest qualifier among the 12-driver Chase field with a third starting position.
“That was a great lap for our car,” Kenseth said. “We made some really good adjustments, since we were a little bit off in practice, and we fixed all the problems that I was having in practice.” MiamiHerald.com
Martin Truex Jr., Greg Biffle, points leader Jimmie Johnson, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Joey Logano will start from positions six through 10, respectively.
“It’s going to be an exciting race and honestly, I’m very excited for what it’s going to be like on Sunday,” Johnson said. “I think we’re going to put on a good show and really race hard for this win.”
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Pepsi Max 400 at Auto Club Speedway - Race Line-Up
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