Bank of America 500 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Bank of America 500 Qualifying
Date: Oct. 14, 2010
Event: Bank of America 500 Qualifying (Round 31 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon of Hendrick Motorsports (28.192 seconds at 191.544 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (11th, 28.373 seconds at 190.322 mph)
Tony Stewart (29th, 28.546 seconds at 189.168 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 Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway by qualifying 11th for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 28.373 seconds at 190.322 mph on the 1.5-mile oval.
“I was just way too loose on my lap,” said Newman, who has two runner-up finishes in 19 career Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte. “Honestly, when (crew chief Tony) Gibson told me my time, it was better than I thought it would be. That’s how loose the car was. It’s disappointing because we thought we had a shot at the pole with our Haas Automation Chevy, but hopefully we’ll still end up with a decent starting spot because I think we’ll have a pretty good car for the race on Saturday night.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot “Showtime” Chevrolet Impala for SHR, qualified 29th with a time of 28.546 seconds at 189.168 mph.
“I thought it was a lot better than that,” said Stewart, who won at Charlotte in October 2003. “The lap felt good, but it obviously wasn’t good on the stopwatch. We’ll go to work on Friday and get the Old Spice/Office Depot Chevy ready for Saturday night.”
Jeff Gordon captured his 69th career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his eighth at Charlotte by posting a lap of 28.192 seconds at 191.544 mph. His 69 career poles put him in a tie for third on the all-time pole list with three-time Sprint Cup champion Cale Yarborough.
Carl Edwards will start on the outside of row one, as he timed in at 28.205 seconds at 191.455 mph. A.J. Allmendinger was third (28.284 seconds at 190.921 mph), while Mark Martin (28.285 seconds at 190.914 mph) and Paul Menard (28.320 seconds at 190.678 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-nine drivers attempted to qualify for the Bank of America 500. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter.
As far as manufacturers went, Chevrolet took the top spot thanks to Gordon’s pole. Ford was next best at the hands of second-quick Edwards. Kyle Busch, who qualified fifth (28.325 seconds at 190.644 mph), was the top Toyota, while the fastest Dodge came via his brother, Kurt, who qualified 15th (28.406 seconds at 190.101 mph).
The Bank of America 500 gets underway at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Oct. 16 with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with a pre-race show at 7 p.m.
-SHR-
