AAA 400 Qualifying Report
AAA 400 Qualifying Report
Date: Oct. 1, 2011
Event: AAA 400 (Round 29 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Dover (Del.) International Speedway (1-mile concrete oval)
Pole Winner: Martin Truex Jr. of Michael Waltrip Racing (22.641 seconds at 159.004 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (20th, 22.878 seconds at 157.356 mph)
Tony Stewart (28th, 22.965 seconds at 156.760 mph)
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army ROTC Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Dover (Del.) International Speedway by qualifying 20th for Sunday’s AAA 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 22.878 seconds at 157.356 mph on the 1-mile concrete oval.
“I felt the Army ROTC Chevrolet stuck better than in yesterday’s practice, but it appears we still have to make more changes,” said Newman, who won at Dover in June 2003, September 2003 and September 2004. “We need to get the car a little better. We’ll go over all the data, talk to our teammate and then come up with a race plan.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 28th after turning a lap of 22.965 seconds at 156.760 mph.
“We were just tight,” said Stewart, who won at Dover in June 2000 and September 2000. “We struggled yesterday in practice and obviously didn’t get the lap we wanted. We’ll see what happens tomorrow.”
Martin Truex Jr., captured his sixth career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his second at Dover by posting a lap of 22.641 seconds at 159.004 mph.
Kurt Busch will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 22.644 seconds at 158.983 mph. Paul Menard was third (22.659 seconds at 158.667 mph), while Carl Edwards (22.705 seconds at 158.555 mph) and Kyle Busch (22.706 seconds at 158.548 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-four drivers attempted to qualify for the AAA 400. The lone driver not making the cut in the 43-car field was Mike Skinner.
Qualifying turned out to be a model of parity as all four makes qualified within the top-four. Toyota took the top spot via Truex’s pole-winning run. Dodge was next best at the hands of Kurt Busch. Chevrolet was the third-fastest make thanks to Menard, while Edwards carried the flag for Ford.
The AAA 400 gets underway at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at 1 p.m.
-SHR-
