Marcos Ambrose has backed-up strong speed in practice to set the fifth fastest time for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Tennessee.
Ambrose was fifth fastest in the only practice held prior to qualifying on the ‘World Fastest half mile’ and during the elimination-styled qualifying he set a time early in the first 30-minute session which placed him 10th. 12 cars went into the pole 10-minute shootout and this time Ambrose waited for the final minute before venturing out onto the track to set a time.
“That’s great and just what we needed,” said Ambrose.
“We’ve been fast all day and this Stanley team feels pretty good going into Sunday.
“We knew going into qualifying we had a good chance of advancing. We had a good run and then just waited in the final round.
“It was lot of fun to actually be in that mix and I feel really good about it. We’ve had trouble with our two qualifying sessions before this one and today we made it stick. We had a good car off the truck. We just tuned on it a little bit and we kept working on it and making it better, so I’m looking forward to the race.
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“This has been a good track for me in the past and I hope it’s going to be good to me on Sunday.”
Denny Hamlin won the Coors Light Pole Qualifying Award in the first qualifying session since NASCAR changed to the new group format. Hamlin went to the top soared to the top of the leaderboard in the final 10-minute session with a speed of 209.200 km/h (129.991 mph), a new track record, for his first pole award of the season. The previous track record holder was Kyle Busch, who qualified at a speed of 129.535 mph set last March. Busch qualified seventh on Friday.
Brad Keselowski kept the Penske front row qualifying streak going setting the second fastest time.
Changes to qualifying included drivers being able to hook cars up to cooling units, and cool-down laps on the track apron were no longer permitted.
David Reutimann and Dave Blaney did not qualify for the race.
VIDEO: Hamlin takes pole at Bristol
QUALIFYING: FOOD CITY 500 – Bristol Motor Speedway
|
POS |
Car # |
Driver |
Make |
Sponsor |
MPH |
Best Time |
Behind |
|
1 |
11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Freight | 129.991 | 14.761 | Leader |
|
2 |
2 | Brad Keselowski | Ford | Miller Lite | 129.965 | 14.764 | –0.003 |
|
3 |
20 | Matt Kenseth | Toyota | Home Depot Husky | 129.073 | 14.866 | –0.105 |
|
4 |
22 | Joey Logano | Ford | Shell Pennzoil | 128.830 | 14.894 | –0.133 |
|
5 |
9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 128.727 | 14.906 | –0.145 |
|
6 |
24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Axalta | 128.245 | 14.962 | –0.201 |
|
7 |
18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | Skittles | 128.159 | 14.972 | –0.211 |
|
8 |
16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Meguiar’s | 127.946 | 14.997 | –0.236 |
|
9 |
31 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Quicken Loans Billion Dollar Bracket Challenge | 127.801 | 15.014 | –0.253 |
|
10 |
5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 127.690 | 15.027 | –0.266 |
|
11 |
48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Kobalt Tools | 127.385 | 15.063 | –0.302 |
|
12 |
99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Kelloggs/Frosted Flakes | 127.073 | 15.100 | –0.339 |
|
13 |
41 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Haas Automation | 128.322 | 14.953 | –0.192 |
|
14 |
88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr | Chevrolet | National Guard | 128.271 | 14.959 | –0.198 |
|
15 |
15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | 5-Hour Energy | 128.245 | 14.962 | –0.201 |
|
16 |
38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 128.236 | 14.963 | –0.202 |
|
17 |
1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | McDonald’s | 128.168 | 14.971 | –0.210 |
|
18 |
26 | Cole Whitt | Toyota | GEAR Speed Stick | 127.929 | 14.999 | –0.238 |
|
19 |
34 | David Ragan | Ford | Dockside Logistics | 127.903 | 15.002 | –0.241 |
|
20 |
42 | Kyle Larson | Chevrolet | Target | 127.792 | 15.015 | –0.254 |
|
21 |
17 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr | Ford | Nationwide Insurance | 127.682 | 15.028 | –0.267 |
|
22 |
47 | AJ Allmendinger | Chevrolet | Bush’s Grillin’ Beans | 127.648 | 15.032 | –0.271 |
|
23 |
43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Smithfield | 127.605 | 15.037 | –0.276 |
|
24 |
95 | Michael McDowell | Ford | K-Love | 127.605 | 15.037 | –0.276 |
|
25 |
13 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS | 127.597 | 15.038 | –0.277 |
|
26 |
3 | Austin Dillon | Chevrolet | Bad Boy Buggies / Realtree | 127.529 | 15.046 | –0.285 |
|
27 |
4 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 127.444 | 15.056 | –0.295 |
|
28 |
27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Richmond/Menards | 127.436 | 15.057 | –0.296 |
|
29 |
78 | Martin Truex Jr | Chevrolet | Furniture Row | 127.351 | 15.067 | –0.306 |
|
30 |
51 | Justin Allgaier | Chevrolet | SEM Products | 127.343 | 15.068 | –0.307 |
|
31 |
40 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | CRC Brakleen | 127.182 | 15.087 | –0.326 |
|
32 |
98 | Josh Wise | Chevrolet | Phil Parsons Racing | 127.174 | 15.088 | –0.327 |
|
33 |
23 | Alex Bowman | Toyota | Dr. Pepper Toyota Camry | 127.165 | 15.089 | –0.328 |
|
34 |
7 | Michael Annett | Chevrolet | Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet | 126.896 | 15.121 | –0.360 |
|
35 |
36 | Reed Sorenson | Chevrolet | TBA | 126.645 | 15.151 | –0.390 |
|
36 |
10 | Danica Patrick | Chevrolet | #10 GoDaddy-Get Found Chevrolet | 126.628 | 15.153 | –0.392 |
|
37 |
14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Mobil 1 | 126.545 | 15.163 | –0.402 |
|
38 |
55 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 126.445 | 15.175 | –0.414 |
|
39 |
32 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | AskMore-GetMore.com | 126.303 | 15.192 | –0.431 |
|
40 |
83 | Ryan Truex | Toyota | Borla Exhaust Toyota Camry | 125.363 | 15.306 | –0.545 |
|
41 |
30 | Parker Kligerman | Toyota | Swan Energy | 124.460 | 15.417 | –0.656 |
|
42 |
66 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | Land Castle Title | 122.537 | 15.659 | –0.898 |
|
43 |
33 | Timmy Hill | Chevrolet | LittleJoesAutos.com | 122.084 | 15.717 | –0.956 |
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