Richmond International Raceway pole winner, Juan Pablo Montoya, is looking at bigger things.
“Being on the pole always helps. And if the car runs somewhere near what we ran in practice, we might have a shot at winning. That would be exciting,” said Juan-Pablo Montoya.
On the other hand it’s an even bigger goal that the Colombian ex-Formula One has on his mind.
“To be able to go for the championship, and that’s our goal to make the Chase and go for the championship, you’ve got to run well everywhere. So I think once we break that, I think we can get it at quite a lot of them,” the Colombian explained.
It was Montoya’s seventh career Sprint Cup pole in NASCAR.
Regan Smith, from the Denver, Colorado-based Furniture Row racing made it an all Chevrolet front row in second, a career-best for the driver and his team.
A breakthrough win, for the little team that could, would be huge as Regan Smith said "We really wanted that first pole so we could get that out of the way."
"I got a little loose in turn four and that probably cost us the No. 1 spot. But overall I am proud of my guys. Fridays have sure been fun. But we need to take advantage of these strong qualifying efforts on race day. We're getting there…"
Third went to Clint Bowyer who has finished second in his last two races for Richard Childress Racing.
Kasey Kahne, who had an additional knee surgery, was fourth in the Red Bull Toyota.
Explaining his medical situation he said “it’s a little bit tight just from swelling, but the meniscus and all of that stuff is good to go now. I’m just tired of having my knee’s worked on. That was a really good run right there. Our Red Bull Toyota was fast. The car felt good. I got moving my hands a little bit off of (turn) 4 that second lap and gave up -- thought maybe we could’ve ran a flat, but I still think it’s a pretty solid lap.”
Brad Keselowski, on the comeback trail after gall bladder surgery, failed to make the 43-car field.
“Being on the pole always helps. And if the car runs somewhere near what we ran in practice, we might have a shot at winning. That would be exciting,” said Juan-Pablo Montoya.
On the other hand it’s an even bigger goal that the Colombian ex-Formula One has on his mind.
“To be able to go for the championship, and that’s our goal to make the Chase and go for the championship, you’ve got to run well everywhere. So I think once we break that, I think we can get it at quite a lot of them,” the Colombian explained.
It was Montoya’s seventh career Sprint Cup pole in NASCAR.
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| Photo: Nascar.com |
Regan Smith, from the Denver, Colorado-based Furniture Row racing made it an all Chevrolet front row in second, a career-best for the driver and his team.
A breakthrough win, for the little team that could, would be huge as Regan Smith said "We really wanted that first pole so we could get that out of the way."
"I got a little loose in turn four and that probably cost us the No. 1 spot. But overall I am proud of my guys. Fridays have sure been fun. But we need to take advantage of these strong qualifying efforts on race day. We're getting there…"
Third went to Clint Bowyer who has finished second in his last two races for Richard Childress Racing.
Kasey Kahne, who had an additional knee surgery, was fourth in the Red Bull Toyota.
Explaining his medical situation he said “it’s a little bit tight just from swelling, but the meniscus and all of that stuff is good to go now. I’m just tired of having my knee’s worked on. That was a really good run right there. Our Red Bull Toyota was fast. The car felt good. I got moving my hands a little bit off of (turn) 4 that second lap and gave up -- thought maybe we could’ve ran a flat, but I still think it’s a pretty solid lap.”
Brad Keselowski, on the comeback trail after gall bladder surgery, failed to make the 43-car field.