Marcos Ambrose will line-up third for tomorrow’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
Pole position went to Jeff Gordon with AJ Allmendinger to share the front row.
“We missed the pole by two-one hundredths,” said Ambrose.
“I am proud of Todd Parrott (crew chief), he works really hard at these Superspeedway events. He really knows what to do.
“We just keep getting better and better at these race tracks for the whole Richard Petty Motorsports team.
“We have a chance to win tomorrow. We are going to do whatever we can to stay up front all day and try to lead that last lap.”
The performance for Ambrose in qualifying backs-up the strong speed shown by the Australian in his Ford at NASCAR’s other restrictor-plate track, Daytona earlier this year where he was fast in the Bud Shootout, qualifying and the Gatorade Duels.
Restrictor plate racing is all about working in the draft and Ambrose will be need to pair-up with other drivers to stay towards the front. It’s not unusual for cars to lose more than 20 positions in a single lap if they are caught out of line of the pack of cars working in the draft.
The major thing will be to avoid the accident which is known as the ‘Big One’ as cars run wide-open at over 300 km/h.
RACE LINEUP : Aaron’s 499 | Talladega Superspeedway
|
POS |
CAR |
DRIVER |
MAKE |
SPONSOR |
MPH |
TIME |
BEHIND |
| 1 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont 20 Years | 191.624 | 49.973 | Leader |
| 2 | 22 | AJ Allmendinger | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil-AAA | 191.111 | 50.107 | -0.134 |
| 3 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 191.039 | 50.126 | -0.153 |
| 4 | 43 | Aric Almirola | Ford | Verifone Sail | 190.981 | 50.141 | -0.168 |
| 5 | 5 | Kasey Kahne | Chevrolet | Farmers Insurance | 190.772 | 50.196 | -0.223 |
| 6 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M / O’Reilly Auto Parts | 190.586 | 50.245 | -0.272 |
| 7 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Fastenal | 190.586 | 50.245 | -0.272 |
| 8 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Mobil 1 | 190.476 | 50.274 | -0.301 |
| 9 | 55 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | Aaron’s “Color your way to Talladega” | 190.245 | 50.335 | -0.362 |
| 10 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Best Buy | 190.200 | 50.347 | -0.374 |
| 11 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 190.170 | 50.355 | -0.382 |
| 12 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target / Kraft | 190.140 | 50.363 | -0.390 |
| 13 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 190.072 | 50.381 | -0.408 |
| 14 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 190.064 | 50.383 | -0.410 |
| 15 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 189.958 | 50.411 | -0.438 |
| 16 | 26 | Josh Wise* | Ford | Morristown Driver’s Service | 189.958 | 50.411 | -0.438 |
| 17 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | Turtle Wax / Menards | 189.906 | 50.425 | -0.452 |
| 18 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | National Guard / Diet Mountain Dew | 189.864 | 50.436 | -0.463 |
| 19 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe’s | 189.797 | 50.454 | -0.481 |
| 20 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Rheem | 189.785 | 50.457 | -0.484 |
| 21 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M’s | 189.691 | 50.482 | -0.509 |
| 22 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 189.680 | 50.485 | -0.512 |
| 23 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Boats | 189.601 | 50.506 | -0.533 |
| 24 | 15 | Clint Bowyer | Toyota | Aaron’s / Alabama National Champions | 189.556 | 50.518 | -0.545 |
| 25 | 13 | Casey Mears | Ford | GEICO | 189.477 | 50.539 | -0.566 |
| 26 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | Taco Bell | 189.354 | 50.572 | -0.599 |
| 27 | 30 | David Stremme | Toyota | Stock Car Steel and Aluminum | 189.331 | 50.578 | -0.605 |
| 28 | 32 | Terry Labonte | Ford | C&J Energy | 189.182 | 50.618 | -0.645 |
| 29 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 189.100 | 50.640 | -0.667 |
| 30 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | Dollar General | 189.073 | 50.647 | -0.674 |
| 31 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row / Farm American | 189.051 | 50.653 | -0.680 |
| 32 | 34 | David Ragan | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 189.021 | 50.661 | -0.688 |
| 33 | 51 | Kurt Busch | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction Services | 188.984 | 50.671 | -0.698 |
| 34 | 10 | David Reutimann | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 188.902 | 50.693 | -0.720 |
| 35 | 98 | Michael McDowell | Ford | Curb Records | 188.630 | 50.766 | -0.793 |
| 36 | 97 | Bill Elliott | Toyota | NEMCO Motorsports | 188.171 | 50.890 | -0.917 |
| 37 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves | 188.012 | 50.933 | -0.960 |
| 38 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Golden Corral | 187.625 | 51.038 | -1.065 |
| 39 | 23 | Robert Richardson Jr. | Toyota | North Texas Pipe | 186.710 | 51.288 | -1.315 |
| 40 | 83 | Landon Cassill | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 186.293 | 51.403 | -1.430 |
| 41 | 93 | Travis Kvapil+ | Toyota | Burger King / Dr Pepper | 186.206 | 51.427 | -1.454 |
| 42 | 47 | Bobby Labonte+ | Toyota | Bush’s Baked Beans | 185.790 | 51.542 | -1.569 |
| 43 | 33 | Tony Raines | Chevrolet | Little Joe’s Autos | 186.529 | 51.338 | -1.365 |
|
Did Not Qualify |
|||||||
| 44 | 249 | J.J. Yeley | Toyota | America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents | 186.296 | 51.402 | -1.429 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie
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