Tony Stewart claimed the pole for Sunday’s Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 after posting the quickest lap in qualifying at Pocono Raceway.
Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, turned a lap of 171.393 m.p.h. around the 2.5-mile triangular track for his second pole of the season and the 14th of his Cup career. His first pole at Pocono came in July 2000.
Last night, Stewart competed in the All-Star Circuit of Champions sprint car event in Fargo, ND. He arrived at Pocono in the early hours of Friday morning. MiamiHerald.com
He edged Juan Montoya (171.096 mph, 52.602 seconds) for the top starting spot.
Denny Hamlin, who won the most recent Pocono race in June, qualified third at 170.371 mph (52.826 seconds). Jeff Gordon (170.222 mph, 52.872 seconds) will start fourth and Ryan Newman (169.936 mph, 52.961 seconds) fifth.
“I’m afraid the sky’s going to be falling when I go outside,” Stewart said. “I’m a little surprised by it myself. I’m not a qualifier. I admit that’s always been my weak suit.
“But, man, if you’re going to pick a place where you want to have good track position, this is it. It’s really important here at Pocono. If I don’t go out like I did last year and trash the thing in Happy Hour, we’ll still have a good starting spot.” NASCAR.com
Jimmie Johnson, who topped the time sheet in Friday’s practice, qualified sixth and will start alongside Ryan Newman on the third row. Points leader Kevin Harvick qualified 14th.
Montoya, who hasn’t won since June 2007 on the road course at Infineon Raceway, led 36 laps from the pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway but crashed and finished 34th on June 27. Last week, he led 86 laps from the pole at Indianapolis Motor Speedway but again was involved in a late-race wreck and finished 32nd.
“Last week we ran so good,” Montoya said. “In a crazy way, myself hitting the fence helped our team (and Jamie McMurray) win the race. ... Ifs and buts. We had a lot of speed in the car, so like I tell the guys, I’d rather have 20 of those than run 15th every week.”
Denny Hamlin, who won the June 6 race at Pocono and was Friday’s third-fastest qualifier, was happy with his speed (170.371 mph), if not the handling on his car.
“Hopefully when we fine-tune it we’ll really have something good,” said Hamlin, who has four victories in nine career starts at Pocono. USA Today
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