Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying
Date: May 26, 2011
Event: Coca-Cola 600 Qualifying (Round 12 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Brad Keselowski of Penske Racing (28.112 seconds at 192.089 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (12th, 28.337 seconds at 190.564 mph)
Tony Stewart (22nd, 28.509 seconds at 189.414 mph)
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway by qualifying 12th for Sunday night’s Coca-Cola 600 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 28.337 seconds at 190.564 mph on the 1.5-mile oval.
“It was a good effort, but I’m not happy with it,” said Newman, who has four top-fives and seven top-10s in 20 career, point-paying starts at Charlotte. “We didn’t back up the position we ran in practice. But we did what we thought was right and just came up short.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 22nd after turning a lap of 28.509 seconds at 189.414 mph.
“It was pretty good in (turns) one and two,” said Stewart, who has one point-paying win at Charlotte (October 2003) and one win in the non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race (2009). “We’ve heard a lot of guys talking about not getting their cars turning down in (turns) three and four, so I probably turned a little bit early, but I made sure I got down and probably gave up a little time there. We made a pretty good gain there. We just didn’t gain as much as we would’ve liked, but there are some guys that were faster than us in practice that we beat. We have 600 miles. It doesn’t matter whether you start first or 43rd, if you have a car that is going to win the race, you are going to win the race no matter where you start. We just have to do our thing.”
Brad Keselowski captured his second career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his first at Charlotte by posting a lap of 28.112 seconds at 192.089 mph.
A.J. Allmendinger will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 28.170 seconds at 191.693 mph. Carl Edwards was third (28.171 seconds at 191.686 mph), while Denny Hamlin (28.218 seconds at 191.367 mph) and Jeff Burton (28.236 seconds at 191.245 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-eight drivers attempted to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Andy Lally, T.J. Bell, Scott Wimmer, Tony Raines and Scott Riggs.
As far as manufacturers went, it was a model of parity. Dodge took the top spot thanks to Keselowski’s pole-winning mark. Ford was next best at the hands of Allmendinger. The top Toyota came via Hamlin, and carrying the flag for Chevrolet was Burton.
The Coca-Cola 600 gets underway at 6 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 29 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with a pre-race show at 5:30 p.m.
-SHR-
