D
DJ Rossi
Guest
Kurt Busch drove a back-up car to his second straight pole and third consecutive for Penske Racing when he took the top spot for Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 at Pocono Raceway.
Busch toured the 2.5-mile triangular track with a lap of 171.579 mph to follow-up his pole-winning run last week at Kansas Speedway.
Busch spun in Friday’s practice session but was able to bounce back to put the back-up Shell/Pennzoil Dodge in the number one starting spot for Sunday’s 14th race of the Sprint Cup Series season.
“We haven’t changed big big things but we’ve done some things to get things turned around,” Busch said of his pair of poles along with teammate Brad Keselowski’s Coca-Cola 600 pole and victory last week at Kansas Speedway.
Busch won his 14th career Sprint Cup Series pole and second of the year with the effort. It was his first at Pocono and the former series champion was impressed with his team’s preparation of the back-up machine he was forced to use after losing his primary mount in practice.
“It felt more like five,” Busch said of the actual ten laps of practice he was able to get in his back up during Friday’s final warm-up session. “You wouldn't hear about having a pole-winning backup car, back in the day. It’s a car we used at Phoenix and hopefully it will be good in tomorrow’s 500-mile race.”
Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Regan Smith rounded out the first five qualifiers.
Hamlin is a four-time Pocono winner, including this event last year.
“We definitely have a good race car," Hamlin said. "We really don’t expect to qualify awesome here, but it was still a great job by our FedEx team -- they’ve just done an amazing job of giving me a good race car each time we come here. We just love coming here to Pocono.”
Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Mark Martin rounded out the top 10.
Motor Racing Network's coverage of Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 is slated to begin at 12 Noon ET with the green flag slated for 1:15 p.m.
Related Topics:
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Race Center
Sprint Cup
Camping World Truck Nationwide 5-hour Energy 500
@ Pocono Raceway
Sunday, June 12, 2011 12:00 PM
Radio Start:MRN, Noon ETTV Start:TNT, Noon ET
Starting LineupQualifying ResultsFinal Practice Speeds1st Practice SpeedsSchedule of EventsLoop Data eBookDriver AveragesDriver RatingsPast WinnersPast Pole Winners.Recent Multimedia
Busch toured the 2.5-mile triangular track with a lap of 171.579 mph to follow-up his pole-winning run last week at Kansas Speedway.
Busch spun in Friday’s practice session but was able to bounce back to put the back-up Shell/Pennzoil Dodge in the number one starting spot for Sunday’s 14th race of the Sprint Cup Series season.
“We haven’t changed big big things but we’ve done some things to get things turned around,” Busch said of his pair of poles along with teammate Brad Keselowski’s Coca-Cola 600 pole and victory last week at Kansas Speedway.
Busch won his 14th career Sprint Cup Series pole and second of the year with the effort. It was his first at Pocono and the former series champion was impressed with his team’s preparation of the back-up machine he was forced to use after losing his primary mount in practice.
“It felt more like five,” Busch said of the actual ten laps of practice he was able to get in his back up during Friday’s final warm-up session. “You wouldn't hear about having a pole-winning backup car, back in the day. It’s a car we used at Phoenix and hopefully it will be good in tomorrow’s 500-mile race.”
Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Denny Hamlin and Regan Smith rounded out the first five qualifiers.
Hamlin is a four-time Pocono winner, including this event last year.
“We definitely have a good race car," Hamlin said. "We really don’t expect to qualify awesome here, but it was still a great job by our FedEx team -- they’ve just done an amazing job of giving me a good race car each time we come here. We just love coming here to Pocono.”
Carl Edwards, Marcos Ambrose, Ryan Newman, David Reutimann and Mark Martin rounded out the top 10.
Motor Racing Network's coverage of Sunday’s 5-Hour Energy 500 is slated to begin at 12 Noon ET with the green flag slated for 1:15 p.m.
Related Topics:
NASCAR Sprint Cup
Race Center
Sprint Cup
Camping World Truck Nationwide 5-hour Energy 500
@ Pocono Raceway
Sunday, June 12, 2011 12:00 PM
Radio Start:MRN, Noon ETTV Start:TNT, Noon ET
Starting LineupQualifying ResultsFinal Practice Speeds1st Practice SpeedsSchedule of EventsLoop Data eBookDriver AveragesDriver RatingsPast WinnersPast Pole Winners.Recent Multimedia