STEWART-HAAS RACING: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Qualifying
Date: June 26, 2009
Event: Lenox Industrial Tools 301 Qualifying (Round 17 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon (1.058-mile oval)
Pole Winner: None, qualifying canceled due to rain (field set via current car owner point standings)
SHR Lineup: Tony Stewart (1st)
Ryan Newman (6th)
Rain canceled today’s qualifying session for Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon. As a result, the 43-car field for Sunday’s 301-lap race was set by current car owner points per the NASCAR rulebook.
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Old Spice/Office Depot Chevrolet Impala SS for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), will start on the pole as his car is first in owner points.
Stewart, who won at New Hampshire in July 2000 and July 2005, will start the race in his backup car after crashing his primary racecar in turns one and two of the 1.058-mile oval during the afternoon practice session. He will, however, maintain his first-place starting spot, as the accident happened before qualifying and because the engine from the primary car has since been placed into the backup car.
“I just got loose. Once I got out of the groove, I was staying right with it, I just needed another 50 feet to finish getting it gathered back up. I just ran out of racetrack,” Stewart said. “The good thing and the comforting part of the situation is that we’ve got a great group of guys who I have the utmost confidence in when we get in a situation like this. We can recover and get a backup car out and get it ready and go out and finish the session and finish competitively. From that standpoint, you’re happy.”
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 Haas Automation/U.S. Army Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, will start sixth. Newman, like Stewart, has two victories at New Hampshire (September 2002 and September 2005).
“I have always enjoyed this track,” Newman said. “I got my first win here and after a long winless streak, got another one here and I am on another long winless streak, so it would be nice to get another one here.”
Jeff Gordon will start alongside Stewart on the outside of row one, while Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch and Carl Edwards comprise the remainder of the top-five. Newman, Denny Hamlin, Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch and Matt Kenseth rounded out the top-10.
Forty-six drivers were slated to qualify for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Mike Wallace, Dexter Bean and Ted Christopher.
The Lenox Industrial Tools 301 gets underway at 2 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 28 with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 1:30 p.m.