NASCAR Sprint Cup veteran Mark Martin will lead team-mate Jimmie Johnson to the green flag at Talladega on Sunday for the sixth race of the 2011 Chase.
The two Hendrick Motorsport drivers were separated by just 0.002s at the end of their qualifying runs, with Martin taking his 51st career pole in NASCAR’s premier division.
“I really want to make sure that I give 100 percent of the credit to, first, the organization of Hendrick Motorsports for the incredible work that they do on restrictor-plate racing cars,” said Martin after qualifying.
“But also (crew chief) Lance McGrew and the GoDaddy.com team took the same parts and pieces that the three teammates had and managed to put down just a little bit quicker lap.”
Soon to depart Richard Childress Racing driver Clint Bowyer and 2011 Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne will start third and fourth respectively, while Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr will share the third row in the third and fourth Hendrick entries.
Paul Menard, David Ragan, Carl Edwards and Ryan Newman rounded out the top 10, while Australian Marcos Ambrose was 19th.
See below for the full qualifying result
|
POS |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
TIME |
BEHIND |
| 1 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | GoDaddy.com | 52.799 | Leader |
| 2 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | MyLowe’s | 52.801 | -0.002 |
| 3 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Chevy 100 Years | 52.835 | -0.036 |
| 4 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft | 52.903 | -0.104 |
| 5 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 52.930 | -0.131 |
| 6 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Diet Mountain Dew “Paint the 88” | 52.934 | -0.135 |
| 7 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Serta / Menards | 53.007 | -0.208 |
| 8 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS My Choice | 53.021 | -0.222 |
| 9 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Subway | 53.138 | -0.339 |
| 10 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 53.140 | -0.341 |
| 11 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Jeremiah Weed Southern Style | 53.142 | -0.343 |
| 12 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | El Monterey / Office Depot | 53.168 | -0.369 |
| 13 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Jimmy John’s | 53.186 | -0.387 |
| 14 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 53.209 | -0.410 |
| 15 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Energizer | 53.237 | -0.438 |
| 16 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 53.250 | -0.451 |
| 17 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver’s | 53.250 | -0.451 |
| 18 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / O’Reilly Auto Parts | 53.264 | -0.465 |
| 19 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 53.278 | -0.479 |
| 20 | Kevin Conway | Toyota | Extenze | 53.291 | -0.492 |
| 21 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Scott Products | 53.297 | -0.498 |
| 22 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 53.305 | -0.506 |
| 23 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 53.310 | -0.511 |
| 24 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 53.318 | -0.519 |
| 25 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 53.318 | -0.519 |
| 26 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 53.326 | -0.527 |
| 27 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com | 53.372 | -0.573 |
| 28 | J.J. Yeley | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 53.393 | -0.594 |
| 29 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 53.394 | -0.595 |
| 30 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 53.481 | -0.682 |
| 31 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 53.514 | -0.715 |
| 32 | Terry Labonte | Ford | C&J Energy | 53.528 | -0.729 |
| 33 | Andy Lally* | Ford | TRG Motorsports | 53.532 | -0.733 |
| 34 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s Halloween | 53.563 | -0.764 |
| 35 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 53.565 | -0.766 |
| 36 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron’s Dream Machine | 53.595 | -0.796 |
| 37 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 53.596 | -0.797 |
| 38 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 53.616 | -0.817 |
| 39 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 53.641 | -0.842 |
| 40 | David Gilliland | Ford | World Hunger Relief | 53.669 | -0.870 |
| 41 | Dave Blaney+ | Chevrolet | Golden Corral | 53.696 | -0.897 |
| 42 | Casey Mears+ | Toyota | GEICO | 54.262 | -1.463 |
| 43 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy | 53.627 | -0.828 |
| DNQ | Geoffrey Bodine | Chevrolet | Luke & Associates | 53.637 | -0.838 |
| DNQ | Scott Speed | Ford | Red Line Oil | 53.956 | -1.157 |
| DNQ | T.J. Bell* | Ford | TRG Motorsports | 54.080 | -1.281 |
| DNQ | Josh Wise | Ford | Bradley University | 54.085 | -1.286 |
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