Motor Racing Digest

 

Posted by: Dave Thompson, follow @phillyfan17

August 11, 2012

Juan Pablo Montoya won his second consecutive pole and will lead the filed to the green-flag for Sunday’s Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen International.

Montoya ran a near flawless lap during his qualifying run at a speed of 127.020 mph and managed to hold off Kyle Busch at the top of the board. Busch will start on the front row with Montoya.

Jimmie Johnson was happy with his qualifying run and hopes Sunday will be his turn to win at Watkins Glen. Johnson ran at a lap speed of 126.925 mph nearly ousting Busch from the second position.

Brad Keselowski will start in fourth while last year’s race winner Marcos Ambrose rounds out the top-five.

The next five on the starting grid will be Ryan Newman, Tony Stewart, Clint Bowyer, Martin Truex Jr. and Jamie McMurray.

Other notables in qualifying:

Points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. will roll to the green-flag from the 16th position.

Regan Smith will start in 13th position.

Matt Kenseth, who tends to struggle at road courses, will start 24th.

Jeff Burton continues his struggles and will start 28th.

Travis Kvapil crashed during his qualifying and was unable to complete his run. He will start in 42nd based on owner points.

The starting lineup for the Finger Lakes 355 at Watkins Glen:

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	BestLapTime	BestSpeed
1	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	69.438	127.020
2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M’s Toyota	69.488	126.928
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe’s Cortez Silver Chevrolet	69.490	126.925
4	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	69.654	126.626
5	9	Marcos Ambrose	Stanley Ford	69.710	126.524
6	39	Ryan Newman	U.S. ARMY Chevrolet	69.827	126.312
7	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevrolet	69.917	126.150
8	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota	69.966	126.061
9	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	69.973	126.049
10	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald’s Chevrolet	70.023	125.959
11	98	Michael McDowell	TRAQM Ford	70.160	125.713
12	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet	70.199	125.643
13	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row/Farm American Chevrolet	70.216	125.612
14	20	Joey Logano	The Home Depot Toyota	70.269	125.518
15	16	Greg Biffle	3M Ford	70.270	125.516
16	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	National Guard/Diet Mountain Dew Chevrolet	70.279	125.500
17	22	Sam Hornish Jr.(i)	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	70.324	125.419
18	99	Carl Edwards	Fastenal Ford	70.330	125.409
19	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Chevrolet	70.341	125.389
20	5	Kasey Kahne	Farmers Insurance Chevrolet	70.369	125.339
21	95	Scott Speed	TWD Ford	70.372	125.334
22	27	Paul Menard	Menards/Rheem Chevrolet	70.448	125.199
23	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Freight Toyota	70.515	125.080
24	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford EcoBoost Ford	70.607	124.917
25	32	Boris Said	Hendrickcars.com Ford	70.678	124.791
26	47	Bobby Labonte	Miller Welders/Freightliner Toyota	70.721	124.715
27	51	Kurt Busch	Phoenix Construction Services Inc. Chevrolet	70.869	124.455
28	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	71.010	124.208
29	43	Aric Almirola	Smithfield Ford	71.022	124.187
30	13	Casey Mears	GEICO Ford	71.054	124.131
31	36	Dave Blaney	Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet	71.067	124.108
32	34	David Ragan	Scorpion Coatings/Al’s Liners Ford	71.205	123.868
33	55	Brian Vickers	MyClassicGarage.com Toyota	71.296	123.710
34	38	David Gilliland	Mod Space Ford	71.373	123.576
35	83	Landon Cassill	Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota	71.434	123.471
36	87	Joe Nemechek(i)	Genny Light/AM/FM Energy Toyota	71.454	123.436
37	10	JJ Yeley	Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet	71.550	123.270
38	26	Josh Wise #	MDS Transport Ford	71.982	122.531
39	33	Stephen Leicht #	LittleJoesAuto.com Chevrolet	72.097	122.335
40	19	Chris Cook	Plinker Tactical Toyota	74.193	118.879
41	49	Jason Leffler(i)	America Israel Racing Toyota	74.279	118.742
42	93	Travis Kvapil	Burger King/Dr. Pepper Toyota	Owner Points
43	30	Patrick Long	Inception Motorsports Toyota	75.031	117.551