Auto Club 500 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Auto Club 500 Qualifying
Date: Feb. 19, 2010
Event: Auto Club 500 Qualifying (Round 2 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif. (2-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Jamie McMurray of Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (39.185 seconds at 183.744 mph)
SHR Lineup: Tony Stewart (16th, 39.586 seconds at 181.882 mph)
Ryan Newman (18th, 39.620 seconds at 181.726 mph)
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, Calif., by qualifying 16th for Sunday’s Auto Club 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. The co-owner of SHR along with Oxnard, Calif.-based Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world – turned a lap of 39.586 seconds at 181.882 mph on the 2-mile oval.
“We’re actually pretty solid here,” said Stewart, who has nine top-10 finishes in 17 career Sprint Cup starts at Fontana. “The car felt good, but we’ll keep working on it tomorrow and make it better for Sunday.”
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala for SHR, qualified 18th. Newman turned a lap of 39.620 seconds at 181.726 mph.
“I guess I didn’t push it hard enough. I’ve actually overdriven the car so many times here in qualifying that this time I tried something different, and I ended up not pushing it hard enough,” said Newman, who won the second pole of his Sprint Cup career at Fontana in 2002. “We had a pole-winning or second-place car in practice today, and I feel bad because I feel like I let the guys down. We had a really good Haas Automation Chevy in race trim in practice, and I think we’ll have a really good car come Sunday.”
Last week’s Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray captured his fourth career pole and his first at Fontana with a time of 39.185 seconds at 183.744 mph. McMurray’s Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates teammate, Juan Pablo Montoya, will start alongside McMurray on the outside of row one, as he timed in at 39.242 seconds at 183.477 mph. Clint Bowyer (39.317 seconds at 183.127 mph) was third, while Kasey Kahne (39.363 seconds at 182.913 mph) and Dave Blaney (39.364 seconds at 182.908 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Auto Club 500. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Casey Mears, Johnny Sauter and Terry Cook.
Chevrolet swept the top-three spots thanks to the efforts of McMurray, Montoya and Bowyer. Ford was next best at the hands of Kahne. Toyota was third with Blaney, while the top Dodge came via eighth-quick Sam Hornish Jr. (39.385 seconds at 182.811 mph).
The Auto Club 500 gets underway at 3 p.m. EST on Sunday, Feb. 21 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 2 p.m.
-SHR-