AMP Energy 500 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
AMP Energy 500 Qualifying
Date: Oct. 31, 2009
Event: AMP Energy 500 Qualifying (Round 33 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Pole Winner: None, qualifying canceled due to rain (field set via current car owner point standings)
SHR Lineup: Tony Stewart (4th)
Ryan Newman (7th)
Rain canceled today’s qualifying session for Sunday’s AMP Energy 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. As a result, the 43-car field for the 188-lap race was set by current car owner points per the NASCAR rulebook.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will start fourth.
“I think everybody was somewhat conservative in practice (on Friday),” said Stewart, who is the defending winner of the AMP Energy 500 and has 12 top-10 finishes in 21 career Sprint Cup starts at Talladega. “I feel like the best car out there is Denny Hamlin’s, so we’re all trying to figure out how to keep up with him right now. We worked through the small list of things that Darian (Grubb, crew chief) had on his list to try in practice and we quit early.”
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, will start seventh. Newman has seven top-10 finishes in 15 career Sprint Cup starts at the 2.66-mile oval.
“I don’t know what to expect,” Newman said. “Nobody knows what to expect. This track has gone 500 miles green all the way and it’s had many yellows. We just look forward to the opportunity to have a good run with our U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet and move up in the points and try to get that first win of the year we talk about every week.”
Three-time and reigning Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson will start from the pole as he is the series point leader. His Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon, will start second and third, respectively. Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya comprise the remainder of the top-five. Kurt Busch, Newman, Greg Biffle, Hamlin and Carl Edwards round out the top-10.
Only 43 drivers were slated to qualify for the 43-car grid. As such, no one failed to make the field.
The AMP Energy 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EST on Sunday, Nov. 1 with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at noon.