bigbadbrother
04-30-2016, 07:29 PM
Tom Jensen
Chase Elliott won the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, as the big dogs of NASCAR get set to slug it out over 500 tense miles.
Elliott, who earlier this year won the Daytona 500 pole, captured the No. 1 spot with a lap of 192.661 miles per hour in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
And it came at a good time and a good place.
Twenty-nine years ago on this day, Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott, set the all-time NASCAR qualifying record of 212.809 mph here.
“This is definitely a special place. It’s cool to get it done today,” said Chase Elliott. “This is a team effort and those guys and everybody at the No. 5 and No. 24 shop, in particular, and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the Hendrick engine department and obviously NAPA Auto Parts.”
Austin Dillon, the 2014 Daytona 500 pole winner, was second at 192.441 mph in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“To be that close to him (Elliott) and we know we can get a little better here and there, but that is just the big pick up,” said Dillon. “I think we qualified 24th here the last race. Huge pick up for us and we are excited for the race.”
There were no real shockers or outliers during time trials, as seven of the top 12 qualifiers belonged to either Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports, and an eighth was a JGR satellite team.
All four Hendrick Chevrolets were in the top 12 with Elliott on the pole, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third, Jimmie Johnson fifth and Kasey Kahne 11th.
Four of the five JGR and Furniture Row Racing Toyotas made it to the final round, with only defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch failing to make the cut. Busch will start tomorrow’s race in 17th.
The other Toyota drivers were fast: Matt Kenseth was fourth, Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin eighth, Carl Edwards ninth and Martin Truex Jr. 12th.
“We seemed to have pretty good speed,” said Kenseth, a two-time Daytona 500 winner. “We had good speed, but qualifying doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for the race. These guys have been doing a good job and I qualified well at Daytona and qualified well here, so that was encouraging that they got the speed in the car.”
Tony Stewart will start the race in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, but will get out of the car at the first available opportunity and turn it over to Ty Dillon, who will finish the race in it.
By starting the race, Stewart will get credited with the driver points, although he’ll have to drop to the back of the field prior to the green flag because Dillon drove the No. 14 in qualifying.
Stewart’s teammate, Danica Patrick, was a hugely disappointing 37th in qualifying after being in fourth-fastest in both practices on Friday. “I don’t know,” said Patrick. “The car’s not real fast but that doesn’t mean anything isn’t possible on Sunday.”
Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champ, qualified 29th in his SHR Chevy.
Josh Wise was the only driver who failed to qualify.
Check out Sunday's complete starting lineup below:
http://a.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/nascar/images/2016/04/30/043016-nascar-Starting-Lineup.vadapt.664.high.9.jpg
Chase Elliott won the pole for Sunday’s GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, as the big dogs of NASCAR get set to slug it out over 500 tense miles.
Elliott, who earlier this year won the Daytona 500 pole, captured the No. 1 spot with a lap of 192.661 miles per hour in his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.
And it came at a good time and a good place.
Twenty-nine years ago on this day, Elliott’s father, NASCAR Hall of Fame member Bill Elliott, set the all-time NASCAR qualifying record of 212.809 mph here.
“This is definitely a special place. It’s cool to get it done today,” said Chase Elliott. “This is a team effort and those guys and everybody at the No. 5 and No. 24 shop, in particular, and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and the Hendrick engine department and obviously NAPA Auto Parts.”
Austin Dillon, the 2014 Daytona 500 pole winner, was second at 192.441 mph in his No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet.
“To be that close to him (Elliott) and we know we can get a little better here and there, but that is just the big pick up,” said Dillon. “I think we qualified 24th here the last race. Huge pick up for us and we are excited for the race.”
There were no real shockers or outliers during time trials, as seven of the top 12 qualifiers belonged to either Joe Gibbs Racing or Hendrick Motorsports, and an eighth was a JGR satellite team.
All four Hendrick Chevrolets were in the top 12 with Elliott on the pole, Dale Earnhardt Jr. third, Jimmie Johnson fifth and Kasey Kahne 11th.
Four of the five JGR and Furniture Row Racing Toyotas made it to the final round, with only defending Sprint Cup champion Kyle Busch failing to make the cut. Busch will start tomorrow’s race in 17th.
The other Toyota drivers were fast: Matt Kenseth was fourth, Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin eighth, Carl Edwards ninth and Martin Truex Jr. 12th.
“We seemed to have pretty good speed,” said Kenseth, a two-time Daytona 500 winner. “We had good speed, but qualifying doesn’t necessarily mean a lot for the race. These guys have been doing a good job and I qualified well at Daytona and qualified well here, so that was encouraging that they got the speed in the car.”
Tony Stewart will start the race in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet, but will get out of the car at the first available opportunity and turn it over to Ty Dillon, who will finish the race in it.
By starting the race, Stewart will get credited with the driver points, although he’ll have to drop to the back of the field prior to the green flag because Dillon drove the No. 14 in qualifying.
Stewart’s teammate, Danica Patrick, was a hugely disappointing 37th in qualifying after being in fourth-fastest in both practices on Friday. “I don’t know,” said Patrick. “The car’s not real fast but that doesn’t mean anything isn’t possible on Sunday.”
Kevin Harvick, the 2014 Sprint Cup champ, qualified 29th in his SHR Chevy.
Josh Wise was the only driver who failed to qualify.
Check out Sunday's complete starting lineup below:
http://a.fssta.com/content/dam/fsdigital/fscom/nascar/images/2016/04/30/043016-nascar-Starting-Lineup.vadapt.664.high.9.jpg