Aaron’s 499 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Aaron’s 499 Qualifying
Date: April 16, 2011
Event: Aaron’s 499 Qualifying (Round 8 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (2.66-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports (53.723 seconds at 178.248 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (23rd, 54.206 seconds at 176.659 mph)
Tony Stewart (30th, 54.302 seconds at 176.347 mph)
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway by qualifying 23rd for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 54.206 seconds at 176.659 mph on the 2.66-mile oval.
“We hoped to be a little closer to the top, but we’re in race mode so we’ll see what happens,” said Newman, who has a best Talladega finish of third, earned in the 2009 Aaron’s 499. “We feel like we have good racecars, for sure. Practice is obviously more realistic compared to what we do in qualifying. We’ll take what we have with the Haas Automation Chevrolet and run with it tomorrow.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 30th after turning a lap of 54.302 seconds at 176.347 mph.
“The Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy is lot better in race trim,” said Stewart, who has one Sprint Cup victory at Talladega, earned in October 2008. “It’s nice to put a number up on the board, but here it really doesn’t matter. It’s all about the draft and where you are at the end of the race.”
Stewart and Newman were 1-2 in Friday’s first practice session at Talladega. They opted not to participate in the second and final practice.
Jeff Gordon captured his 70th career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his second at Talladega by posting a lap of 53.723 seconds at 178.248 mph.
Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports teammates filled up the front two rows, with Jimmie Johnson qualifying second (53.845 seconds at 177.844 mph), Mark Martin locking down third (53.856 seconds at 177.807 mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr., taking fourth (53.869 seconds at 177.765 mph). Paul Menard of Richard Childress Racing was the lone non-Hendrick Motorsports driver to crack the top-five (53.888 seconds at 177.702 mph).
Hendrick Motorsports became just the third team in Sprint Cup history to qualify four cars in the top-four starting positions, joining Pete DePaolo in 1965 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway and Jack Roush in 2005 at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Aaron’s 499. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Mike Skinner, Tony Raines and Michael McDowell.
As far as manufacturers went, Chevrolet swept the first three rows, with Menard and Landon Cassill (53.893 seconds at 177.685 mph) shoring up row three. Ford broke up the Chevy juggernaut with David Ragan’s seventh-fastest time (53.968 seconds at 177.438 mph), while Dodge’s best came via eighth-quick Kurt Busch (53.986 seconds at 177.379 mph). Carrying the flag for Toyota was Brian Vickers’ ninth-place effort (53.989 seconds at 177.369 mph).
The Aaron’s 499 gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 17 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at noon.
-SHR-
