Jeff Gordon needs a win more than a pole, but, for now a pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway feels pretty good for the four-time Sprint Cup Champion.
Jeff Gordon turned a lap of 191.544 mph earning his first pole of the year and 69th in his career tying him for third place with Cale Yarborough on the all-time pole winner’s list in NASCAR. It was also his 18th year of winning at least one pole in the Sprint Cup division.
“This was huge and a huge shock,” Gordon said. “We just have not been qualifying good this year. We haven’t qualified this well at Charlotte for 10 years.”
Next up on Gordon’s check off list is to end a winless drought going back to April 2009. And he is some 85 points behind his protégé, Jimmie Johnson.
"I wouldn't say we are in top form. We're fourth in points and we haven't won a race this year. I will say we are improved from last year,” Gordon added.
Points leader Johnson qualified 10th, second place Denny Hamlin will start 23rd and third place Kevin Harvick is 24th on the grid.
Carl Edwards bounced back from the disappointment of the broken distributor at Auto Club Speedway with a second place run of 191.455mph.
Carl Edwards said “that’s a fast lap around here. It’s almost too fast to take in what’s going on around the center of the corner. When you watch these cars go around, you’re all bound down in the corner, your elbows are up and you’re doing everything you can to keep it going in the right direction and my guys did a really good job. That was a fun lap.”
AJ Allmendinger edged closer to his first NASCAR win with a lap of 190.921mph. “It was a bit of a surprise. With about the 15 laps we ran the car was handling really well, and then in qualifying trim the thing seemed pretty good, but the car was better than the driver honestly in qualifying,” he said.
Patrick Carpentier, of Joliette, Que., will start 35th.
Being a home race for many of the teams 49 drivers turned out for Thursday night qualifying. Six drivers who failed to make the 43-car starting field includes Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter.
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| Jeff Gordon (Photo: nascar.com) |
Jeff Gordon turned a lap of 191.544 mph earning his first pole of the year and 69th in his career tying him for third place with Cale Yarborough on the all-time pole winner’s list in NASCAR. It was also his 18th year of winning at least one pole in the Sprint Cup division.
“This was huge and a huge shock,” Gordon said. “We just have not been qualifying good this year. We haven’t qualified this well at Charlotte for 10 years.”
Next up on Gordon’s check off list is to end a winless drought going back to April 2009. And he is some 85 points behind his protégé, Jimmie Johnson.
"I wouldn't say we are in top form. We're fourth in points and we haven't won a race this year. I will say we are improved from last year,” Gordon added.
Points leader Johnson qualified 10th, second place Denny Hamlin will start 23rd and third place Kevin Harvick is 24th on the grid.
Carl Edwards bounced back from the disappointment of the broken distributor at Auto Club Speedway with a second place run of 191.455mph.
Carl Edwards said “that’s a fast lap around here. It’s almost too fast to take in what’s going on around the center of the corner. When you watch these cars go around, you’re all bound down in the corner, your elbows are up and you’re doing everything you can to keep it going in the right direction and my guys did a really good job. That was a fun lap.”
AJ Allmendinger edged closer to his first NASCAR win with a lap of 190.921mph. “It was a bit of a surprise. With about the 15 laps we ran the car was handling really well, and then in qualifying trim the thing seemed pretty good, but the car was better than the driver honestly in qualifying,” he said.
Patrick Carpentier, of Joliette, Que., will start 35th.
Being a home race for many of the teams 49 drivers turned out for Thursday night qualifying. Six drivers who failed to make the 43-car starting field includes Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter.