Motor Racing Digest

 

 

Posted by: Candice Corrigan, follow @candicecorrigan

June 9, 2012

Joey Logano was able to maneuver “The Tricky Triangle” on Saturday during qualifying for Sunday’s Pocono 400. He took the top spot with a new track record speed of 179.598 mph.  Logano currently sits 16th in the NASCAR Sprint Cup points standings, but has been dominant in the Nationwide Series this year, winning three of last four races.

The new track pavement has been the “unknown” factor going into this weekend. Teams were able to test earlier in the week and also at a Goodyear tire test back in April. Logano’s concerns about the new surface earlier this week didn’t seem to interfere with his qualifying run today.

“There’s a lot of things we are worried about,” Logano said. “ I think once the track widens out, the race will get better and all that. I think the track is going to be a lot different from practice to the race.”

Teams nor NASCAR expected the track to change dramatically between yesterday’s practice sessions and this morning’s qualifying runs. As Scott Riggs began his first qualifying lap around the track, he alerted NASCAR to the large amount of quick dry, which is used to clean up fluid spills on the racing surface, in turn one. The new surface that was supposed to produce a lot more grip than the old had Riggs’ car skidding through turn one, out of the racing groove.

NASCAR delayed qualifying for 45 minutes to clean up the slick spot, which apparently came from an ARCA car’s blown engine yesterday.

The slickness and unpredictability of the track dramatically decreased expected qualifying speeds. Still, 36 cars broke the track record qualifying times. The only car to not qualify was David Stremme’s Inception Motorsports machine.

Notable qualifying efforts came from Paul Menard, who qualified third – his best of the season. Also, Stacy Compton, a former Truck Series standout, qualified for his first Cup Series race since 2003.

Jimmie Johnson’s qualifying run was inconsistent with his recent hot streak. The five-time champion will start from the 24^th position on Sunday.

For tomorrow’s 400 mile race on the 2.5 mile track, the slickness in turn one is expected to wear as more cars put rubber on the track. Tire wear is questionable as teams predict that the cars will actually be faster on older tires. This could bring some interesting calls in the pits as teams experiment with the new surface.

David Reutimann will sit in for Kurt Busch tomorrow while Busch serves his suspension for penalties incurred after last weekend’s Nationwide Series race at Dover. Reutimann qualified the Phoenix Racing no. 51 in the 25^th position for Sunday’s race.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Qualifying Order for the Pocono 400

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	179.598	50.112	Leader
2	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Kellogg’s / Cheez-it	178.866	50.317	-0.205
3	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / Sylvania	178.582	50.397	-0.285
4	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	178.575	50.399	-0.287
5	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Express	178.543	50.408	-0.296
6	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	178.228	50.497	-0.385
7	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row / Farm American	178.158	50.517	-0.405
8	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew	177.939	50.579	-0.467
9	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	DEWALT	177.862	50.601	-0.489
10	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	177.823	50.612	-0.500
11	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Banana Boat	177.658	50.659	-0.547
12	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	177.536	50.694	-0.582
13	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M / Rite Aid / NextCare	177.518	50.699	-0.587
14	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Ford EcoBoost	177.501	50.704	-0.592
15	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King Real Fruit Smoothies	177.204	50.789	-0.677
16	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-hour Energy	177.026	50.840	-0.728
17	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	176.988	50.851	-0.739
18	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	176.852	50.890	-0.778
19	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	176.803	50.904	-0.792
20	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	The Armed Forces Foundation	176.658	50.946	-0.834
21	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Rheem	176.543	50.979	-0.867
22	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Mobil 1 / Office Depot	176.419	51.015	-0.903
23	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	176.160	51.090	-0.978
24	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools	176.149	51.093	-0.981
25	51	David Reutimann	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction Services	176.074	51.115	-1.003
26	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	175.596	51.254	-1.142
27	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Bubba Burgers	175.576	51.260	-1.148
28	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Humphrey Smith Racing	175.387	51.315	-1.203
29	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Transportatio-n Impact	175.159	51.382	-1.270
30	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	Presbyterian Healthcare System	175.073	51.407	-1.295
31	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	174.880	51.464	-1.352
32	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents	173.943	51.741	-1.629
33	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	AM / FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves	173.869	51.763	-1.651
34	34	David Ragan	Ford	Taco Bell	173.853	51.768	-1.656
35	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	MDS Transport	173.497	51.874	-1.762
36	38	David Gilliland	Ford	ModSpace / TRG Motorsports	173.240	51.951	-1.839
37	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Burger King / Dr Pepper	171.854	52.370	-2.258
38	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	171.520	52.472	-2.360
39	74	Stacy Compton	Chevrolet	Turn One Racing / Country Suites	171.155	52.584	-2.472
40	36	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	SealWrap.com	167.411	53.760	-3.648
41	32	Reed Sorenson+	Ford	Herr Foods / Hero Energy Shot	-	-	-
42	10	Dave Blaney+	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	-	-	-
43	33	Stephen Leicht*	Chevrolet	Little JoesAutos.com	170.345	52.834	-2.722
Did Not Qualify
44	30	David Stremme	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	170.004	52.940	-2.828