Kyle Busch will lead the field to green when the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase for the Championship gets under way tomorrow at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Due to being the top seed for NASCAR’s version of the playoffs, Busch was awarded the pole yesterday when qualifying for the Sylvania 300 was rained out.
Busch, who has won a season-high eight times, will start on the pole next to six-race winner Carl Edwards. The remaining top 12 will line up in the order of the revised driver standings, which correspond to the owner standings through the Chase positions.
Because passing is difficult at New Hampshire, starting position is more important than on many tracks. Fourteen of New Hampshire’s 27 Cup races have been won from top-10 starting spots, including four from the pole.
“That will be great for Sunday,” Busch said of his pole. “Last time we were here we started so far back we had a hard time moving up.”
“We just couldn’t get anywhere. We were stuck from 14th to 16th to 18th all day long and couldn’t go anywhere.
“I feel like starting up front now with a decent car we should be able to hold on to track position a little bit better, whereas some of those other guys that are starting around us, it might be a little bit of a struggle for them, too.”
That means that the 12 drivers in the Chase for the Sprint Cup will take the green flag for the first of 10 Chase races in the top-12 positions, according to the order of their seeding. Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start fourth, followed by Clint Bowyer, Denny Hamlin, Jeff Burton, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle, Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Matt Kenseth.
Johnson was second-fastest in Cup practice Friday and was disappointed not to get a chance at the first pit-stall selection, which goes to the pole winner.
“We didn’t work on race trim [in practice],” Johnson said. “We were hopeful that qualifying would get in [Friday] and we’d have a shot at that first pit box [closest to Turn 1]. Unfortunately, the rain came and kept us from having that opportunity.”
“I hate to see the rain for the fans and for any of the teams that had to go home, but for us, this is a gift,” Edwards said. “We were struggling in practice, so this gives us a really good opportunity to get a good starting spot and a great pit-stall selection. If we can get our act together [Saturday in practice], we should have a good race, but we were hurting a little bit [Friday].
| 
|