One of Richmond International Raceway’s best finishers finally logged a great start.
Kyle Busch sits on the pole for tonight’s Heath Calhoun 400 after turning a lap almost a half-mile-per-hour faster than David Reutimann. Daily Press
Busch edged fellow Camry driver David Reutimann (126.618 mph) for the top starting spot in the 10th race of the Cup season. Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson (126.464 mph) and Jeff Gordon (126.375 mph), who on Friday downplayed the “feud” that ignited between the four-time champions at Texas and Talladega, will start side-by-side in the third and fourth positions.
“Richmond’s one of my best race tracks, I guess for some reason, if not one of my favorites, and [Saturday] we’ll try to get [Dave] Rogers his first win as a Cup crew chief,” said Busch, who won his first pole of the season, the sixth of his career and his first at Richmond.
“I love Charlotte—Charlotte’s my most favorite race track—and then Bristol’s another one, Chicago’s another one and Vegas is another one. I’d say Richmond’s probably fifth. I really run well here and I like coming here. It’s definitely a neat race track, a challenging race track. NASCAR.com
“It is two opposite ends of the spectrum from where we were when we unloaded to where we are now,” he said. “We weren’t very good at the beginning of the practice. We were way off, to be honest with you. ... We made some big adjustments that got us a lot better.” said Reutimann.
Johnson, who took the blame for making a mistake that wrecked Gordon and caused the war of words at the end of last weekend’s race at Talladega, said his team struggled, too.
“Really really pleased,” he said. “It seems like a lot of guys are really struggling to get grip, but we couldn’t produce a lap time as fast as some of our teammates were. ... At the end of practice, we found a few things that gave us a little bit of hope.” The Associated Press
Ryan Newman qualifies fifth followed by Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray.
Hometown favorite Denny Hamlin was off the pace in qualifying and will start 30th in the 43-car field. Although he said that finally winning at Richmond last fall has diffused the pressure of running well in his own backyard, Hamlin still was anxious for answers after uncharacteristically lagging in both practice sessions.
“It’s slow right now. It’s the only word I can really use for it,” said Hamlin, a two-time winner so far this season. “I’m just running as hard as the car will let me and it just won’t take any more speed. So, we just got to figure that part out.” USA Today
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