NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Qualifying
Date: May 21, 2010
Event: NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race Qualifying (non-points event)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: None (qualifying canceled due to rain, field set by qualifying draw)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (10th)
Tony Stewart (11th)
Rain canceled tonight’s qualifying session for Saturday night’s non-points NASCAR Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. As a result, the field consisting of past race winners in 2009 and 2010, past NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champions and past All-Star Race winners was set based upon each driver’s qualifying draw.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Tornados Chevrolet Impala for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will start 10th. Newman won the All-Star Race in 2002.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Burger King Chevrolet Impala for SHR, will start 11th. The co-owner of SHR along with Gene Haas, founder of Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world – is the defending winner of the All-Star Race.
That win was Stewart’s first victory as driver/owner with SHR, and it made Stewart the first driver/owner to win a Sprint Cup-sanctioned event since Ricky Rudd won a point-paying race in October 1998 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. It was also the first All-Star Race win for Stewart, who had four top-10 finishes in 10 previous starts in the event. Stewart became the second driver/owner to win the All-Star Race, joining Geoff Bodine, who accomplished the feat in 1994.
Kurt Busch will start from the pole, with Joey Logano alongside on the front row. Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray and Kyle Busch comprise the rest of the top-five. David Reutimann, Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Casey Mears and Newman complete the top-10.
As far as manufacturers went, Dodge took the top spot thanks to Kurt Busch’s draw. Toyota was next best via Logano, while Chevrolet was third via Jamie McMurray’s fourth-place draw. The top Ford is care of Matt Kenseth’s 14th-place starting spot.
The All-Star Race gets underway on Saturday, May 22 at 9 p.m. EDT after the undercard Sprint Showdown is completed. SPEED will carry live coverage of both races beginning at 7 p.m.
-SHR-
