Nascar Blog

I didn’t get to see qualifying yesterday, for some reason I have a hard time remembering it can be later or even re-broadcast later as it is usually run while I’m at work. Dale Jr laid down a lap at a blistering 192.761 mph, the fastest the COT has run since its inception, a 1 mile an hour faster than Gordon, who qualified in 5th position, but it only ended up making Jr 0.148 of a second faster than Gordon. Video of Jr’s lap is after the jump.

Earnhardt paced Friday’s qualifying session at the 1.54-mile race track with a lap at 192.716 mph, good enough to edge 2008 race winner Kyle Busch (192.280 mph) for the top spot. Juan Montoya (192.106 mph) qualified third, followed by Mark Martin (191.814 mph) and Jeff Gordon (191.774 mph).

The pole was Earnhardt’s second at Atlanta, the ninth of his career, his first since April 2008 at Texas and his third since September 2002 at Kansas. Tempering his elation at qualifying first, however, was the knowledge that Earnhardt is suffering through a winless streak that reached 60 races last week at Las Vegas.

“We’re just hungry, so hungry to do much better on Sunday,” said Earnhardt, who hasn’t won since June 2008 at Michigan. “We qualified well in Vegas [fourth], and we were pretty happy to put ourselves in the middle of the company; we were around up there in the top 10.

“To be able to do what we did [Friday night] means a lot to us, but we’re starving for a good finish and something like this to happen on Sunday for us — and that’s really all we can think about.” Source:

Here is how they qualified:
1 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Amp Energy / National Guard 192.761 28.761 Leader
2 18 Kyle Busch Toyota M&M’s 192.280 28.833 -0.072
3 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet Target 192.106 28.859 -0.098
4 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet HendrickCars.com / GoDaddy.com 191.814 28.903 -0.142
5 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet National Guard / DuPont 191.774 28.909 -0.148
6 9 Kasey Kahne Ford Budweiser 191.688 28.922 -0.161
7 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet Tornados 191.549 28.943 -0.182
8 19 Elliott Sadler Ford Hunt Brothers Pizza 191.436 28.960 -0.199
9 00 David Reutimann Toyota Aaron’s Dream Machine 191.186 28.998 -0.237
10 99 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts 191.087 29.013 -0.252
11 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 191.054 29.018 -0.257
12 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota Lance Snacks / Tom’s Snacks 190.935 29.036 -0.275
13 16 Greg Biffle Ford U.S. Census 190.850 29.049 -0.288
14 17 Matt Kenseth Ford Valvoline 190.791 29.058 -0.297
15 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet Office Depot / Old Spice 190.692 29.073 -0.312
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s / Kobalt Tools 190.640 29.081 -0.320
17 6 David Ragan Ford UPS 190.574 29.091 -0.330
18 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet BB&T 190.561 29.093 -0.332
19 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 190.548 29.095 -0.334
20 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Office 190.424 29.114 -0.353
21 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet TaxSlayer.com 190.267 29.138 -0.377
22 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Caterpillar 190.221 29.145 -0.384
23 98 Paul Menard Ford CertainTeed / Menards 189.987 29.181 -0.420
24 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 189.915 29.192 -0.431
25 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford Insignia / Best Buy 189.857 29.201 -0.440
26 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 189.798 29.210 -0.449
27 66 Dave Blaney Toyota Prism Motorsports 189.590 29.242 -0.481
28 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge Mopar / FLO TV 189.571 29.245 -0.484
29 20 Joey Logano Toyota The Home Depot 189.189 29.304 -0.543
30 36 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Wave Energy Drink 189.144 29.311 -0.550
31 13 Max Papis Toyota GEICO 189.112 29.316 -0.555
32 82 Scott Speed Toyota Red Bull 189.079 29.321 -0.560
33 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota FrontRowJoe.com 189.060 29.324 -0.563
34 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center 189.021 29.330 -0.569
35 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 189.015 29.331 -0.570
36 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge Mobil 1 188.970 29.338 -0.577
37 38 David Gilliland Ford Charter Air Transport / Taco Bell 188.341 29.436 -0.675
38 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet Furniture Row Companies 187.958 29.496 -0.735
39 7 Robby Gordon Toyota Warner Music Nashville / Blake Shelton 186.403 29.742 -0.981
40 34 Travis Kvapil Ford Long John Silver’s 185.430 29.898 -1.137
41 37 Kevin Conway Ford Extenze 184.812 29.998 -1.237
42 26 Boris Said Ford Sacred Power / Southern Pride Trucking 182.916 30.309 -1.548
43 55 Michael McDowell Toyota Prism Motorsports 188.758 29.371 -0.610

Did Not Qualify
44 09 Aric Almirola Chevrolet Phoenix Racing 188.066 29.479 -0.718
45 190 Casey Mears Chevrolet Juice Air Fre
sheners / SmellMyCar.com 187.678 29.540 -0.779
46 46 Terry Cook Dodge Whitney Motorsports 186.122 29.787 -1.026