Juan Pablo Montoya takes NASCAR Sprint Cup pole at Pocono
Juan Pablo Montoya claimed pole position for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Pocono, setting an early benchmark that stood unbeaten for the rest of the session
The Earnhardt Ganassi driver produced a time of 51.124 seconds, at an average speed of 176.043 mph, improving on the previous best set by Phoenix Racing's Kurt Busch to claim his first pole since April 2011.
The Colombian was only the 16th driver in the order to set his qualifying lap but as track temperatures increased the fastest drivers of Friday's sessions were unable to get close to their best from practice.
"It's big, this is a huge boost for everybody in the team," said Montoya, currently 21st in Cup points. "We've been working so hard and we really needed a little bit of light.
"We know we're working in the right direction and we feel the cars have been getting a little better but to actually get out there and get a pole... I've seen a lot of long and stressful faces and we really needed something like this as a company."
He added: "Do we have the fastest car out there? No. But qualifying is the same as racing. You've just got to make the right calls and do whatever it takes to get it done and that's what we did."
Joe Gibbs Racing's Denny Hamlin, who revealed on Friday that he is set to be a father next January, ran early in the order as well and ended up with a front-row starting position, ahead of Paul Menard, also an early runner, who was forced to a back-up car on Friday after an incident at the end of the day's first session.
Hendrick Motorsports' Kasey Kahne was the fastest of the late runners and got the fourth starting spot for Sunday ahead of Richard Petty's Marcos Ambrose while Friday's pacesetter and points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr was eighth ahead of Stewart-Haas' Ryan Newman and Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson, who was fastest in the opening practice of the weekend.
Jeff Gordon, a five-time Pocono winner, was the only Hendrick driver to qualify outside the top 10 after slightly brushing the wall during his flying lap.
Mike Bliss was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 30th while Stephen Leicht failed to make the field.
Jason White got behind the wheel of the #32 car, replacing John Wes Townley who was originally set to drive it on his Cup debut, but crashed early in Friday's opening practice session.
Pos Driver Team/Car Time Gap
1. Juan Pablo Montoya Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 51.124s
2. Denny Hamlin Gibbs Toyota 51.196s + 0.072s
3. Paul Menard Childress Chevrolet 51.245s + 0.121s
4. Kasey Kahne Hendrick Chevrolet 51.300s + 0.176s
5. Marcos Ambrose Petty Ford 51.302s + 0.178s
6. Kurt Busch Phoenix Chevrolet 51.329s + 0.205s
7. Matt Kenseth Roush Fenway Ford 51.379s + 0.255s
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr Hendrick Chevrolet 51.390s + 0.266s
9. Ryan Newman Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 51.400s + 0.276s
10. Jimmie Johnson Hendrick Chevrolet 51.409s + 0.285s
11. Regan Smith Furniture Row Chevrolet 51.418s + 0.294s
12. Greg Biffle Roush Fenway Ford 51.439s + 0.315s
13. Aric Almirola Petty Ford 51.486s + 0.362s
14. Joey Logano Gibbs Toyota 51.489s + 0.365s
15. Martin Truex Jr Waltrip Toyota 51.541s + 0.417s
16. Jamie McMurray Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet 51.558s + 0.434s
17. Carl Edwards Roush Fenway Ford 51.596s + 0.472s
18. Mark Martin Waltrip Toyota 51.600s + 0.476s
19. Clint Bowyer Waltrip Toyota 51.631s + 0.507s
20. Kyle Busch Gibbs Toyota 51.642s + 0.518s
21. Kevin Harvick Childress Chevrolet 51.661s + 0.537s
22. Landon Cassill BK Toyota 51.676s + 0.552s
23. Jeff Burton Childress Chevrolet 51.748s + 0.624s
24. David Reutimann Baldwin Chevrolet 51.852s + 0.728s
25. Sam Hornish Jr Penske Dodge 51.866s + 0.742s
26. David Gilliland Front Row Ford 51.900s + 0.776s
27. Jeff Gordon Hendrick Chevrolet 51.933s + 0.809s
28. Tony Stewart Stewart-Haas Chevrolet 51.964s + 0.840s
29. Casey Mears Germain Ford 52.064s + 0.940s
30. Mike Bliss Humphrey Smith Toyota 52.138s + 1.014s
31. Brad Keselowski Penske Dodge 52.213s + 1.089s
32. David Ragan Front Row Ford 52.314s + 1.190s
33. Scott Riggs R3 Chevrolet 52.351s + 1.227s
34. Josh Wise Front Row Ford 52.352s + 1.228s
35. JJ Yeley Max Q Chevrolet 52.384s + 1.260s
36. David Stremme Inception Toyota 52.436s + 1.312s
37. Travis Kvapil BK Toyota 52.556s + 1.432s
38. Joe Nemechek NEMCO Toyota 52.692s + 1.568s
39. Bobby Labonte JTG Daugherty Toyota 52.737s + 1.613s
40. Reed Sorenson Humphrey Smith Ford 52.761s + 1.637s
41. Jason White FAS Lane Ford 53.611s + 2.487s
42. Tony Raines Baldwin Chevrolet
43. Mike Skinner Parsons Ford 52.781s + 1.657s
Did not qualify:
Stephen Leicht Circle Sport Chevrolet 52.790s + 1.666s
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