After a four-hour rain delay, 50-year-old Mark Martin posted the quickest lap in Saturday’s qualifying for the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
Martin lapped the famed 2.5-mile oval at 182.054 m.p.h. (49.436 seconds) in his No.5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet for his fourth pole of the season and the 45th of his Sprint Cup Series career. He moved into a tie with Buck Baker for 10th on the series’ all-time pole winners list. MiamiHerald.com
“I can promise you one thing. There is nobody in NASCAR having more fun than me. I’m sure about that,” said Martin, 50, who became the oldest pole winner of a major racing event in the 100-year history of the track with a lap at 182.054 m.p.h.
The previous record was set by Cliff Bergere, who was 49 years 175 days old when he won the pole for the 1946 Indianapolis 500.
“I like making history,” Martin said Saturday before final practice at the Brickyard. “The very most fun of the whole thing that we’re doing here is to see [my team’s] faces.
“I love those guys and I’m a pretty tough unit and I’ve had a lot of disappointment. But I feel toward them like you do toward your children.” Chicago Tribune
Martin blew away Juan Pablo Montoya, winner of the 2000 Indianapolis 500, for the pole. Running a retro Target paint scheme that duplicates his Indy 500 car, Montoya qualified second with a lap at 180.803.
Montoya has always been good at Indy — he also raced on the track in Formula One — and many competitors have predicted he’ll contend for his first win of the season on Sunday. But he’s also clinging to a spot in the Chase for the championship, and Montoya has raced cautiously all season in an effort to earn one of the 12 berths.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Allstate 400 at the Brickyard - Race Line-Up
Dale Earnhardt Jr. battled back from a brutal stomach virus to qualify third — his best effort since Lance McGrew took over as crew chief seven races ago.
Earnhardt was plagued with a high fever and vomiting when he arrived in Indianapolis, and he wanted Brad Keselowski on standby in case he needs a relief driver on Sunday. But rain delayed qualifying Saturday, and Keselowski ran out of time to get a required practice lap in Earnhardt’s car before he had to be at nearby O’Reilly Raceway Park to prepare for the Nationwide Series race.
“He’s not going to be able to come out here, so we’re going to have to man up and not have a backup plan. That’s all right,” Earnhardt said. “We’ll see how it goes. It was a 24-hour stomach bug. I guess I lost a bunch of fluids during that whole deal. I feel fine now. I just got to get fluids back in me.” The Associated Press
Bill Elliott will start alongside Earnhardt Jr. on the second row after he was fourth fastest. Elliott, 53, won the Brickyard 400 in 2002.
David Reutimann completed the top-five.
Brian Vickers qualified sixth, and Tony Stewart, the current points leader and two-time Indianapolis winner, was seventh.
Kasey Kahne came in eighth, followed by Reed Sorenson and Clint Bowyer. MiamiHerald.com
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