Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Qualifying
Date: Aug. 13, 2011
Event: Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen Qualifying (Round 22 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International (2.45-mile, 11-turn road course)
Pole Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (69.767 seconds at 126.421 mph – new track record)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (6th, 70.383 seconds at 125.314 mph)
Tony Stewart (7th, 70.426 seconds at 125.238 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 Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International by qualifying sixth for Sunday’s Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 70.383 seconds at 125.314 mph on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course.
“It was a good lap,” said Newman, who has a best finish of second in 2002 to go along with two other top-10 finishes in nine previous Sprint Cup starts at Watkins Glen. “I had more speed in the car – I felt that afterward – but I was really proud of the effort. We spent some time in qualifying trim yesterday in first practice and I think that was a definite gain for us as far as just knowing what we had, speed-wise. I think a top-six qualifying effort here is our best, at least in my memory (equaling his 2009 qualifying effort of sixth for SHR). Our lap was not better than I expected. I gave up what I thought could’ve been a pole run, in hindsight. I had more in the car. But I’m happy getting the top-10 run that we did.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start seventh after turning a lap of 70.426 seconds at 125.238 mph.
“Yeah, I’m definitely happy with that,” said Stewart, who has five wins and seven top-five finishes in his 12 previous Sprint Cup starts at Watkins Glen, including a win from the pole position in 2005. “It was a good run for us, for sure. We struggled this weekend so, hopefully, this is a sign that we’re getting things turned around. I’m proud of (crew chief) Darian Grubb and all the guys on this Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy. They really worked hard yesterday. We threw a lot of things at this car. We just can’t seem to find the balance of what it’s wanting. But it was much better in qualifying here so, hopefully, we’ll be good tomorrow. It was a pretty uneventful lap, otherwise. I just made sure I didn’t over-drive any of the corners. We’ve been watching qualifying today and watching guys who are forcing themselves into mistakes. So I just tried to not make that mistake and to have just a nice, clean, solid lap.”
Kyle Busch eclipsed the track qualifying record in capturing his first pole of the season, his first in seven Sprint Cup starts at Watkins Glen, and his eighth in 244 career Sprint Cup starts with a record-setting lap of 69.767 seconds at 126.421 mph. Jeff Gordon set the previous qualifying record in August 2003 with a lap of 70.798 seconds at 124.580 mph.
A.J. Allmendinger will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 69.977 seconds at 126.041 mph. Marcos Ambrose was third (70.009 seconds at 125.984 mph), while Jimmie Johnson (70.188 seconds at 125.663 mph) and Juan Pablo Montoya (70.193 seconds at 125.654 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Dave Blaney, Brian Simo and P.J. Jones.
As far as manufacturers went, Toyota claimed the top spot thanks to Busch’s pole-winning mark. Ford took the next two spots courtesy of Allmendinger and Ambrose, while Johnson was the fastest Chevrolet. Last week’s race-winner Brad Keselowski, who qualified 12th (70.612 seconds at 124.908 mph), carried the flag for Dodge.
The Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at noon.
-SHR-
