Juan Pablo Montoya usually has an answer for any question. Only, after winning the pole for Sunday’s Auto Club 400, at 184.653mph, he was a bit stumped
"I don't know, to tell you the truth," said Montoya adding, "there was a lot less grip in qualifying than there was early in practice, so I don't know.”
Montoya, an open wheel ace, has two wins in his NASCAR career, but none on an oval. He is optimistic about changing that: “There's a lot of things that are better by qualifying good. I think you can look after the car more during the race, and I think that always helps."
Denny Hamlin, who has had a slow start to his Sprint Cup season was slightly off Montoya’s pace.
"I've really never worked as hard as I have this week on just one lap," Hamlin said. "I'm trying to get better. Last week we had issues at Bristol, and that was because we qualified bad.
"We can't put ourselves in the middle of the pack every weekend. We're trying to slowly work to get better at qualifying, and I felt like I'm taking steps to do that."
Joey Logano will start third alongside Regan Smith who was fourth fastest.
It was a long day at the two-mile oval after practice was delayed, then limited to 45-minutes due to weepers (water seeping up from the track) after a week’s worth of rain in Southern California.
Kyle Busch spun at the beginning of practice damaging his main car requiring him to go to a backup that he qualified eighth.
Since only 43-cars showed up for the race no drivers were sent home.
"I don't know, to tell you the truth," said Montoya adding, "there was a lot less grip in qualifying than there was early in practice, so I don't know.”
Montoya, an open wheel ace, has two wins in his NASCAR career, but none on an oval. He is optimistic about changing that: “There's a lot of things that are better by qualifying good. I think you can look after the car more during the race, and I think that always helps."
Denny Hamlin, who has had a slow start to his Sprint Cup season was slightly off Montoya’s pace.
"I've really never worked as hard as I have this week on just one lap," Hamlin said. "I'm trying to get better. Last week we had issues at Bristol, and that was because we qualified bad.
"We can't put ourselves in the middle of the pack every weekend. We're trying to slowly work to get better at qualifying, and I felt like I'm taking steps to do that."
Joey Logano will start third alongside Regan Smith who was fourth fastest.
It was a long day at the two-mile oval after practice was delayed, then limited to 45-minutes due to weepers (water seeping up from the track) after a week’s worth of rain in Southern California.
Kyle Busch spun at the beginning of practice damaging his main car requiring him to go to a backup that he qualified eighth.
Since only 43-cars showed up for the race no drivers were sent home.