Truex takes Dover Cup pole
Martin Truex Jr claimed his first pole position for Michael Waltrip Racing in qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway
The 29-year-old set a lap time of 22.884 seconds at an average speed of 157.315 mph, which he posted early on and remained unmatched for the rest of the session.
"We won here a couple of years ago from 26th," said Truex. "So I don't think it's so much where you start here but the pit stall and the track position is going to help us a tonne. With our pit crew as good as they've been this year, they've done such an awesome job, so giving them that #1 stall is going to be even more of an advantage."
Truex, who claimed his first and only victory thus far in the Sprint Cup Series at Dover in 2007, will be joined on the first row of the grid by Kasey Kahne, who got to within six thousandths of a second of his benchmark.
"We felt pretty good in practice and the lap there in qualifying felt really balanced," said Kahne. "The splitter got on the track a little more than I wanted in [Turns] 1 and 3. I had to wait a little bit in each corner. It was a good run for us. I think that we started in the same spot here last year. I am looking forward to Sunday."
Mark Martin qualified third within the same tenth of a second as the polesitter, while Kyle Busch, who is competing in the Truck and Nationwide Series races as well this weekend, joins the veteran on the second row of the grid.
Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, who won both races at Dover last year, had been quickest earlier in practice but could not quite back that up in qualifying, ending up fifth fastest.
Clint Bowyer, AJ Allmendinger, Carl Edwards and Sam Hornish Jr rounded out the top ten, Edwards showing promise since early in practice as he hopes to get back to winning ways. Points leader Kevin Harvick qualified back in 30th place.
Casey Mears was 39th fastest filling in for Brian Vickers, ahead of Johnny Sauter, who took his place in the #36 car of Tommy Baldwin Racing.
Max Papis had looked good in practice but made contact with the wall on his qualifying run and ended up missing the field, as did Todd Bodine.
Teams will be back on track on Saturday for two practice sessions ahead of Sunday's race.
Pos Driver Car Speed Time Gap 1. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 157.315mph 22.884s 2. Kasey Kahne Ford 157.274mph 22.890s + 0.006s 3. Mark Martin Chevrolet 157.198mph 22.901s + 0.017s 4. Kyle Busch Toyota 157.006mph 22.929s + 0.045s 5. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 156.904mph 22.944s + 0.060s 6. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 156.849mph 22.952s + 0.068s 7. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 156.829mph 22.955s + 0.071s 8. AJ Allmendinger Ford 156.706mph 22.973s + 0.089s 9. Carl Edwards Ford 156.678mph 22.977s + 0.093s 10. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 156.597mph 22.989s + 0.105s 11. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 156.576mph 22.992s + 0.108s 12. Kurt Busch Dodge 156.426mph 23.014s + 0.130s 13. David Reutimann Toyota 156.406mph 23.017s + 0.133s 14. Denny Hamlin Toyota 156.331mph 23.028s + 0.144s 15. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 156.250mph 23.040s + 0.156s 16. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 156.236mph 23.042s + 0.158s 17. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 156.223mph 23.044s + 0.160s 18. Joey Logano Toyota 156.216mph 23.045s + 0.161s 19. Elliott Sadler Ford 156.074mph 23.066s + 0.182s 20. Brad Keselowski Dodge 155.871mph 23.096s + 0.212s 21. Matt Kenseth Ford 155.730mph 23.117s + 0.233s 22. David Ragan Ford 155.615mph 23.134s + 0.250s 23. Paul Menard Ford 155.534mph 23.146s + 0.262s 24. Greg Biffle Ford 155.092mph 23.212s + 0.328s 25. JJ Yeley Dodge 155.005mph 23.225s + 0.341s 26. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 154.999mph 23.226s + 0.342s 27. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 154.779mph 23.259s + 0.375s 28. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 154.652mph 23.278s + 0.394s 29. Scott Speed Toyota 154.573mph 23.290s + 0.406s 30. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 154.486mph 23.303s + 0.419s 31. David Stremme Ford 154.361mph 23.322s + 0.438s 32. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 154.182mph 23.349s + 0.465s 33. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 154.011mph 23.375s + 0.491s 34. Michael McDowell Toyota 153.892mph 23.393s + 0.509s 35. Dave Blaney Toyota 153.807mph 23.406s + 0.522s 36. Joe Nemechek Toyota 153.787mph 23.409s + 0.525s 37. Regan Smith Chevrolet 153.734mph 23.417s + 0.533s 38. Travis Kvapil Ford 153.721mph 23.419s + 0.535s 39. Casey Mears Toyota 153.564mph 23.443s + 0.559s 40. David Gilliland Ford 153.094mph 23.515s + 0.631s 41. Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 152.795mph 23.561s + 0.677s 42. Todd Bodine Toyota 152.698mph 23.576s + 0.692s 43. Max Papis Toyota 152.420mph 23.619s + 0.735s 44. Kevin Conway Ford 151.777mph 23.719s + 0.835s 45. Robby Gordon Toyota 151.598mph 23.747s + 0.863s
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