Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Qualifying
Date: April 2, 2011
Event: Goody’s Fast Relief 500 Qualifying (Round 6 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Jamie McMurray of Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates (19.621 seconds at 96.509 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (2nd, 19.655 seconds at 96.342 mph)
Tony Stewart (28th, 19.914 seconds at 95.089 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 Martinsville (Va.) Speedway by qualifying second for Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Relief 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 19.655 seconds at 96.342 mph on the .526-mile oval.
“A great run for the Haas Automation Chevrolet,” said Newman, who is a three-time pole winner at Martinsville (October 2002, October 2004 and October 2009). “I couldn’t get off the corner as well as I wanted. I could feel the car turning a little bit better than I expected it to. I could commit to it and then lose what I had going in, or I could just take what I had and see what that got me. Second is what we ended up with, and we’ll take it.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 28th after turning a lap of 19.914 seconds at 95.089 mph.
“We’re just really tight,” said Stewart, who still holds the track qualifying record at Martinsville (19.306 seconds at 98.803 mph), set in October 2005. “We’ve got some work to do on Sunday, but 500 laps here is a long time and a lot can happen. Ideally, we work on our Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy and get it better on each stop and guys in front of us have trouble.”
Jamie McMurray captured his eighth career Sprint Cup pole, his first of the season and his first at Martinsville by posting a lap of 19.621 seconds at 96.509 mph.
Qualifying third behind McMurray and Newman was Kasey Kahne (19.665 seconds at 96.293 mph), while Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Joey Logano (19.680 seconds at 96.220 mph) and Denny Hamlin (19.726 seconds at 95.995 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-three drivers attempted to qualify for Goody’s Fast Relief 500, which meant no driver failed to make the 43-car field.
As far as manufacturers went, Chevrolet swept the front row thanks to the runs of McMurray and Newman. Toyota occupied the rest of the top-five care of Kahne, Logano and Hamlin. Ford’s best came via sixth-quick A.J. Allmendinger (19.735 seconds at 95.951 mph). Carrying the flag for Dodge was 20th-quick Kurt Busch (19.836 seconds at 95.463 mph).
The Goody’s Fast Relief 500 gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday, April 3 with live coverage provided by FOX beginning with a pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.
-SHR-
