Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying
Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying
Date: Oct. 7, 2011
Event: Hollywood Casino 400 Qualifying (Round 30 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Greg Biffle (30.877 seconds at 174.887 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (11th, 31.029 seconds at 174.031 mph)
Tony Stewart (23rd, 31.226 seconds at 172.933 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 Kansas Speedway in Kansas City by qualifying 11th for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 31.029 seconds at 174.031 mph on the 1.5-mile oval.
“I didn’t get everything I wanted out of it. It did get most everything I wanted, but just the overall speed was just a little off,” said Newman, who won at Kansas in October 2003. “We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but the Haas Automation Chevrolet was much better there than it was off the truck today.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 23rd after turning a lap of 31.226 seconds at 172.933 mph.
“We’ve got some work to do,” said Stewart, who has two victories at Kansas (October 2006 and October 2009). “Good thing is we have a full day of practice tomorrow. We’ll use all of it.”
Greg Biffle captured his eighth career Sprint Cup pole, his second of the season and his first at Kansas by posting a lap of 30.877 seconds at 174.887 mph.
Biffle’s Roush Fenway Racing teammate, Carl Edwards, will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 30.933 seconds at 174.571 mph. Kyle Busch was third (30.955 seconds at 174.447 mph), while Matt Kenseth (30.957 seconds at 174.436 mph) and Kasey Kahne (30.961 seconds at 174.413 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Hollywood Casino 400. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were David Starr, Josh Wise and Mike Skinner.
As far as manufacturers went, Ford took the top spot thanks to Biffle’s pole-winning mark. Toyota was next best at the hands of Busch. The top Chevrolet came via sixth-fastest Paul Menard (30.978 seconds at 174.317 mph), and carrying the flag for Dodge was 12th-quick Brad Keselowski (31.031 seconds at 174.020 mph).
The Hollywood Casino 400 gets underway at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Oct. 9 with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at 1 p.m.
-SHR-
