Menard takes first Cup pole
Paul Menard scored his maiden NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole in qualifying for Saturday's Coke-Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway
The Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver set a time of 48.409 seconds at an average speed of 185.916 mph, which stood unbeaten for most of the session despite being set early as Menard was only the sixth driver to complete his run.
DEI had their best qualifying effort of the season as two of their four cars actually swept the front row, with veteran Mark Martin setting the second fastest lap of the day, just a hundredth of a second off from Menard's benchmark.
"Our restrictor-plate program has come long ways," said 27-year-old Menard. "The last couple of years we certainly didn't qualify that good but came back from Talladega with a strong finish and we have the same car that we ran there. They've been giving us more horsepower and it was a matter of putting it all together."
"For a driver to run here all we do is hold it wide-open and turn the wheel as little as possible, so it's easy for us, hard for everybody else. So hats off to the team."
Dale Earnhardt Jr was beaten to pole by his former team but will still start from third place on the grid, beside Furniture Row's Joe Nemechek, who was fastest among the drivers who had to qualify on time.
Another three non-guaranteed drivers made the top ten with Johnny Sauter taking fifth, Boris Said in seventh and Patrick Carpentier in tenth, making his first Sprint Cup series start at Daytona.
Regan Smith, another DEI driver, was the fastest qualifying rookie in eight, ahead of points leader Kyle Busch. Meanwhile Sam Hornish Jr, who ran strong in the Daytona 500, was the slowest qualifier of the day but still made the field thanks to his status in the owner points.
Daytona 500 winner Ryan Newman qualified only 32nd, while his teammate Kurt Busch, runner-up in the season opener, was 36th running in his back up car after he crashed his primary one in the only practice session of the weekend where he the fastest time.
"Our Dodge is good in race trim," said Newman. "We had no idea what to expect in qualifying trim because we just didn't have enough time yesterday to test our setup. We don't have a great starting spot, but it's not about where you start here that dictates how you finish."
With 45 cars entering the event, two of them will head back home today. Haas CNC Racing's Scott Riggs failed to qualify for the second time this season, while for JJ Yeley it will be the fourth time he doesn't make the field for a Cup race this year.
Former Cup champion Terry Labonte will use one of his provisionals to take the last spot on the grid.
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Paul Menard Chevrolet 185.916 48.409 2. Mark Martin Chevrolet 185.870 48.421 + 0.012 3. D.Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 185.437 48.534 + 0.125 4. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 185.288 48.573 + 0.164 5. Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 185.250 48.583 + 0.174 6. David Ragan Ford 185.246 48.584 + 0.175 7. Boris Said Ford 185.181 48.601 + 0.192 8. Regan Smith Chevrolet 184.976 48.655 + 0.246 9. Kyle Busch Toyota 184.828 48.694 + 0.285 10. P.Carpentier Dodge 184.676 48.734 + 0.325 11. Travis Kvapil Ford 184.672 48.735 + 0.326 12. Dave Blaney Toyota 184.653 48.740 + 0.331 13. AJ Allmendinger Toyota 184.638 48.744 + 0.335 14. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 184.532 48.772 + 0.363 15. Denny Hamlin Toyota 184.528 48.773 + 0.364 16. Casey Mears Chevrolet 184.487 48.784 + 0.375 17. Tony Stewart Toyota 184.472 48.788 + 0.379 18. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet 184.460 48.791 + 0.382 19. Matt Kenseth Ford 184.430 48.799 + 0.390 20. Bobby Labonte Dodge 184.388 48.810 + 0.401 21. Michael McDowell Toyota 184.362 48.817 + 0.408 22. Jon Wood Ford 184.362 48.817 + 0.408 23. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 184.211 48.857 + 0.448 24. Carl Edwards Ford 184.170 48.869 + 0.460 25. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 184.166 48.869 + 0.460 26. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 184.090 48.889 + 0.480 27. David Gilliland Ford 184.083 48.891 + 0.482 28. Brian Vickers Toyota 184.049 48.900 + 0.491 29. Michael Waltrip Toyota 183.970 48.921 + 0.512 30. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 183.820 48.961 + 0.552 31. Juan Montoya Dodge 183.809 48.964 + 0.555 32. Ryan Newman Dodge 183.760 48.977 + 0.568 33. Greg Biffle Ford 183.737 48.983 + 0.574 34. David Reutimann Toyota 183.625 49.013 + 0.604 35. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 183.587 49.023 + 0.614 36. Kurt Busch Dodge 183.542 49.035 + 0.626 37. Robby Gordon Dodge 183.441 49.062 + 0.653 38. Elliott Sadler Dodge 183.355 49.085 + 0.676 39. Reed Sorenson Dodge 183.307 49.098 + 0.689 40. Jamie McMurray Ford 183.258 49.111 + 0.702 41. Kasey Kahne Dodge 182.671 49.269 + 0.860 42. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 181.734 49.523 + 1.114 43. Terry Labonte Dodge Champion's Provisional
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