DRIVE4COPD 300 Qualifying
Oreo/Ritz Racing Qualifying Report
DRIVE4COPD 300 Qualifying
Date: Feb. 18, 2011
Event: DRIVE4COPD 300 Qualifying (Round 1 of 34)
Series: NASCAR Nationwide Series
Location: Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Clint Bowyer of Kevin Harvick Inc. (49.773 seconds at 180.821 mph)
Tony Stewart: 14th (50.176 seconds at 179.369 mph)
Tony Stewart qualified 14th for Saturday’s DRIVE4COPD 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. The driver of the No. 4 Oreo/Ritz Chevrolet Impala for Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI) turned a lap of 50.176 seconds at 179.369 mph on the 2.5-mile oval.
“The car’s a lot better in race trim than it is in qualifying trim,” said Stewart, who has won five of the last six season-opening Nationwide Series races at Daytona. “We’ll be good when it counts.”
His KHI teammate, Clint Bowyer, driver of the No. 33 Chevrolet Impala, captured his ninth career Nationwide Series pole and his second at Daytona with a lap of 49.773 seconds at 180.821 mph. The third member of KHI, Elliott Sadler, driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet, qualified 19th after posting a lap of 50.272 seconds at 179.026 mph.
Landon Cassill will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 49.834 seconds at 180.600 mph. Dale Earnhardt Jr., was third (49.836 seconds at 180.592 mph), while Danica Patrick (49.867 seconds at 180.480 mph) and Justin Allgaier (49.874 seconds at 180.455 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-five drivers attempted to qualify for the DRIVE4COPD. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Brett Rowe and Jennifer Jo Cobb.
As far as manufacturers went, Chevrolet took the top spot thanks to Bowyer’s pole. Toyota was next best at the hands of sixth-quick Joey Logano (49.995 seconds at 180.018 mph). The top Ford came via seventh- fastest Trevor Bayne (50.024 seconds at 179.914 mph), while the top Dodge was 12th quick Brad Keselowski (50.097 seconds at 179.651 mph).
The DRIVE4COPD 300 gets underway at 1:15 p.m. EST on Saturday, Feb. 19 with live coverage of the race provided by ESPN2 beginning with a pre-race show at noon.
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