STEWART-HAAS RACING: LifeLock.com 400 Qualifying
STEWART-HAAS RACING
LifeLock.com 400 Qualifying
Date: July 9, 2009
Event: LifeLock.com 400 Qualifying (Round 19 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill. (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Brian Vickers of Red Bull Racing (29.322 seconds at 184.162 mph)
SHR Lineup: Ryan Newman (12th, 29.798 seconds at 181.220 mph)
Tony Stewart (32nd, 30.109 seconds at 179.348 mph)
Ryan Newman, driver of the No. 39 U.S. Army/Haas Automation Chevrolet Impala SS, led the two-car Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) contingent in time trials at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., by qualifying 12th for Saturday night’s LifeLock.com 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Newman turned a lap of 29.798 seconds at 181.220 on the 1.5-mile oval.
“That was a decent lap,” said Newman, who won at Chicagoland in 2003. “It’ll give us a good starting spot and pit stall for Saturday, and now we’ll get to work on making it fast for 267 laps.”
Tony Stewart, driver of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice “Back-to-School” Chevrolet Impala SS for SHR, will start 32nd after turning a lap of 30.109 seconds at 179.348 mph.
“I just couldn’t get through turn three,” said Stewart, who went to victory lane at Chicagoland in 2004 and 2007. “We have a better car than that. We were much, much better than that in race trim. We just kept having problems in qualifying trim getting through turn three. We were really loose there for some reason. But we’ve been able to overcome a lot more than that. That’s actually how I’m used to qualifying here.”
Brian Vickers captured his 10th career pole, his fifth of the season and his first at Chicagoland Speedway by posting a lap of 29.322 seconds at 184.162 mph.
His Red Bull Racing teammate, Scott Speed, will start alongside Vickers on the outside of row one, as he timed in at 29.515 seconds at 182.958 mph. Jimmie Johnson was third (29.635 seconds at 182.217 mph), while Denny Hamlin (29.644 seconds at 182.162 mph) and Clint Bowyer (29.654 seconds at 182.100 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the LifeLock.com 400. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Mike Wallace, Tony Raines and Dexter Bean.
As far as manufacturers went, Toyota swept the front row thanks to the runs posted by Vickers and Speed. Chevrolet was next best at the hands of Johnson, while Ford was the third-fastest make thanks to Bill Elliott’s eighth-place run (29.756 seconds at 181.476 mph). Reed Sorenson, who qualified 11th, was the top Dodge at 29.789 seconds at 181.275 mph.
The LifeLock.com 400 gets underway at 8 p.m. EDT on Saturday, July 11 with live coverage provided by TNT beginning with its pre-race show at 7:30 p.m.
