Coleman takes first Busch pole
NASCAR Busch Series rookie Brad Coleman has claimed pole position for the Aaron's 312 at Talladega Superspeedway
Coleman set a fastest lap of 51.959 seconds at an average speed of 184.299 mph in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Chevrolet.
"I thought that was my smoothest lap I've done all weekend," Coleman said after claiming his first pole position in the series.
"I put the wheel in place and I held it there all the way around the corner. I kept it straight on the straightaway and it didn't wander. We did good."
The same No. 18 Joe Gibbs entry has started from pole position at the past four restrictor plate races. Back in February Aric Almirola drove it to pole position at Daytona, while J.J. Yeley put it on pole at Talladega last year and at both Daytona races also.
Toyota enjoyed another good day with their Busch cars as Dave Blaney and Jason Leffler put their Camrys second and third on the grid for Saturday's race, both drivers lapping within a tenth of a second of Coleman's time.
Hendrick's Casey Mears put himself fourth on the starting grid with a lap of 52.131 seconds at an average speed of 183.691 mph, ahead of the fastest Ford Fusion of Ward Burton.
Points leader Carl Edwards was ninth, lapping three tenths of a second off from the session's benchmark. He was beaten by Roush Fenway teammates David Ragan and Danny O'Quinn, who will line up in the fourth row of the grid.
Race favourite Martin Truex Jr., who has won the last three events at Talladega driving his DEI Chevrolet, will start the race from 13th on the grid, while teammate Dale Earnhardt Jr, who won the last time that Truex Jr didn't take victory, will start from 26th.
Both men recovered from an incident in practice when flying debris caused damaged to their cars.
Juan Pablo Montoya, who visits Talladega for the second time after making his stock car debut at the venue on October last year, will line up 20th, sharing the 10th row with Daytona's Busch pole-sitter Aric Almirola.
"You could have done the same lap time as me in that car," the Colombian said. "Qualifying here, hell, anybody can do it. It's pretty straightforward. For some reason it just didn't run as fast as expected.
"It's qualifying. What counts is the race. Points are given after the race. We'll be fine."
Daytona Busch winner Kevin Harvick will start from 25th in the No. 21 Richard Childress Chevrolet, while his team's car driven by Tony Stewart will start from 37th on the grid.
With only 42 entries, one short of a full field, all cars entered will start Saturday's race at Talladega.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Brad Coleman Chevrolet 184.299 51.959 2. Dave Blaney Toyota 184.062 52.026 + 0.067 3. Jason Leffler Toyota 183.934 52.062 + 0.103 4. Casey Mears Chevrolet 183.691 52.131 + 0.172 5. Ward Burton Ford 183.434 52.204 + 0.245 6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 183.332 52.233 + 0.274 7. David Ragan Ford 183.157 52.283 + 0.324 8. Danny O'Quinn Jr. Ford 183.154 52.284 + 0.325 9. Carl Edwards Ford 183.073 52.307 + 0.348 10. Jamie McMurray Ford 183.010 52.325 + 0.366 11. Regan Smith Chevrolet 182.972 52.336 + 0.377 12. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 182.930 52.348 + 0.389 13. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 182.856 52.369 + 0.410 14. Reed Sorenson Dodge 182.776 52.392 + 0.433 15. David Reutimann Toyota 182.741 52.402 + 0.443 16. David Gilliland Ford 182.643 52.430 + 0.471 17. Greg Biffle Ford 182.577 52.449 + 0.490 18. Jon Wood Ford 182.543 52.459 + 0.500 19. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 182.525 52.464 + 0.505 20. Juan Montoya Dodge 182.410 52.497 + 0.538 21. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 182.383 52.505 + 0.546 22. Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford 182.369 52.509 + 0.550 23. Kyle Krisiloff Ford 182.265 52.539 + 0.580 24. Kasey Kahne Dodge 182.223 52.551 + 0.592 25. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 182.171 52.566 + 0.607 26. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 182.105 52.585 + 0.626 27. Stephen Leicht Ford 181.956 52.628 + 0.669 28. Steve Wallace Dodge 181.853 52.658 + 0.699 29. Justin Diercks Chevrolet 181.829 52.665 + 0.706 30. Mike Wallace Chevrolet 181.801 52.673 + 0.714 31. Mike Bliss Dodge 181.542 52.748 + 0.789 32. Marcos Ambrose Ford 181.370 52.798 + 0.839 33. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 181.213 52.844 + 0.885 34. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 181.021 52.900 + 0.941 35. Brent Sherman Chevrolet 181.021 52.900 + 0.941 36. Shane Huffman Chevrolet 180.683 52.999 + 1.040 37. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 180.302 53.111 + 1.152 38. Robert Richardson II Chevrolet 180.200 53.141 + 1.182 39. Eric McClure Chevrolet 179.158 53.450 + 1.491 40. Morgan Shepherd Chevrolet 178.800 53.557 + 1.598 41. Justin Ashburn Chevrolet 177.983 53.803 + 1.844 42. Donnie Neuenberger Ford 175.462 54.576 + 2.617
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