Fords once dominated Sprint Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but they haven’t fared well for the past six years.
That might change Sunday in the Kobalt Tools 400, based on the qualifying performances by the “blue oval” gang Friday.
Matt Kenseth drove his No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford to a track-record lap of 28.589 seconds—an average speed of 188.884 mph—to claim the pole for Sunday’s noon NASCAR race. He led a parade of four Fords powered by Roush-Yates engines to the top of the qualifying chart.
Kenseth, 38, broke the qualifying record of 188.719, set last year by Las Vegan Kurt Busch. Las Vegas Review - Journal
“This was about as nervous as I’ve been for qualifying in probably five years, because I knew we had a shot at the pole,” Kenseth said. “I was just praying I wasn’t going to be the weak link and mess it up like I did last week [at Phoenix].”
Kenseth, the 2003 Cup champion, has not won a race in NASCAR’s top series since February 2009 at Fontana, CA. He scored back-to-back victories at Las Vegas from 2003-04.
Marcos Ambrose, in his first season driving for Richard Petty Motorsports, qualified 0.11 seconds behind Kenseth to claim the outside pole for Sunday’s 400-mile race. Ambrose matched his career-best qualifying effort. He started on the outside pole last October at Martinsville, VA.
“We got a long race on Sunday, but it’s going to help a lot starting up front,” Ambrose said. MiamiHerald.com
Carl Edwards (188.127), last week’s pole winner at Phoenix, was third and Roush Fenway Racing teammate Greg Biffle (187.970) fourth, as Fords claimed the top four starting positions for the third Cup race of the season.
Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano are fifth and sixth on the grid, with A.J. Allmendinger, Ryan Newman, Martin Truex Jr. and Mark Martin completing the top 10. NASCAR.com
Meanwhile, Edwards said he is over his anger toward Kyle Busch for an accident that wrecked Edwards’ car at Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, Ariz. Edwards started from the pole.
“I give him a lot of credit for coming over and talking to me and I think we will be fine,” said Edwards, adding Busch said he tried several times to call Edwards during the week but had an old number.
Busch has apologized repeatedly for causing the accident, but Edwards still wonders what might have been.
“I don’t know if I have completely gotten over it yet,” he said. “It was hugely disappointing.” Seattle Times
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas - Race Line-Up
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