Pocono 500 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Pocono 500 Qualifying
Date: June 5, 2009
Event: Pocono 500 Qualifying (Round 14 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)
Pole Winner: None, qualifying canceled due to rain (field set via current car owner point standings)
SHR Lineup: Tony Stewart (1st) Ryan Newman (5th)
Rain canceled today’s qualifying session for the Pocono 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway. As a result, the 43-car field for Sunday’s 200-lap race was set by current owner points per the NASCAR rulebook.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will start on the pole as his car is first in owner points. Stewart took over the top spot following last week’s race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway and became the first owner-driver to lead the standings since Alan Kulwicki won the championship in 1992.
Stewart, the co-owner of SHR along with Oxnard, Calif.-based Haas Automation – the largest CNC machine tool builder in the western world – will look to score his second Sprint Cup victory at Pocono, as he won in the spring of 2003.
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation Demo Day/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, will start fifth. Newman has one win, five top-five and six top-10 finishes in 14 starts at Pocono.
Jeff Gordon will start alongside Stewart on row one. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Newman comprise the remainder of the top-five. Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Greg Biffle and Jeff Burton round out the top-10.
Forty-six drivers were slated to qualify for the Pocono 500. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Derrike Cope, Mike Wallace, and Tony Raines.
The Pocono 500 gets underway at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 7 with live, high-definition coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 12:30 p.m.
