Backstretch Motorsports

Qualifying Fast Facts
Atlanta Motor Speedway
KOBALT TOOLS 500

Coors Light Pole Winner: Mark Martin
Age: 50
Team : No. 5 - Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet
Owner: Mary Hendrick
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson

Mark Martin won the Coors Light Pole Award for the Kobalt Tool 500 with a lap of 29.640 seconds, 187.045 mph. He joined Harry Gant as the only drivers to post a pole at over 50 years of age in NASCAR premier series. Gant had three poles after turning 50. Martin’s 50th birthday was Jan 9, 2009.
This is his 42nd pole in 726 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races. Martin?s last pole was at Richmond on May 5, 2001 ? 281 races ago. Martin competed in 256 of those races.
This is his first pole and third top-10 start in 2009. Martin posted six second-place starts in 2008 and has one already this season (Daytona).
This is his second pole in 47 races at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Martin has multiple top-10 starts in all three national series at Atlanta.

On coming close to the outside wall in the qualifying run: “I don’t know, but I ran out of talent, that is for sure.” Martin began. “I am still shaking so I don’t know how good I can talk in this interview. I ran out of talent from the center off of four there, there was not way I could leave my foot on the floor and bring it back. Awfully, awfully proud to be driving for CARQUEST and Kellogg’s and these guys. We don’t have anything to show for what the effort that has been put in but we have had some fast race cars and we are going to keep getting faster. Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) is doing a real good job of second guessing me. I think he learns how to second guess me, the better we are doing to do because if we had left it the way I wanted to, I would definitely would have hit the wall coming off of four. I think experience is just going to keep building for us as we go forward. He needs to because I am trying so hard that I will go right over the edge on some of these setup calls. We are making progress working together.”

Kurt Busch (second) posted his third top-10 start of 2009 and his sixth in 17 races at Atlanta. Busch posted his second runner-up start in as many races. He has started second four times now since his most recent pole which came at Auto Club Speedway in September 2007.

“I really felt like coming to the green (flag), we were going to have our hands full and that it was going to be a busy 30 seconds.” Busch told reporters in post-qualifying press conference. “As the lap progressed, I felt like the car was sticking well, but I felt like I was too tentative to really throw it in the corner deep and stand on the gas hard. I’m surprised that we’re sitting here right now. I have to thank my guys and their hard work and the thought process behind all the changes we made. We changed everything but the kitchen sink to end up where we are right now. That’s been the theme; we’ve been a little off in race practice…we’ll switch into qualifying practice and qualifying helps answer some of our questions going into Saturday’s practices. That happened at California and Vegas. Today, we’re happy to be (qualified) second. It’s really exciting that we have a car that’s capable of running where it is, we just need to fine tune that little bit.”

Jamie McMurray (third) posted his second top-10 start at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is his second in four races this season.

“That’s a really good lap.” the Roush Fenway Racing driver said , as he exited his No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford. “I don’t know if it’s the tire that Goodyear has brought here, but when we unloaded in practice I thought that we were two or three seconds off the pace and it ended up we were like fifth-quick for most of practice. The cars just drive really odd. They’re really free getting in the corner and then once the car gets loaded up, it seems like it gets real tight. Now in qualifying trim it’s a little bit different because it just has so much grip and you put all that tape on the grille and it’s night time, so it will be an interesting race on Sunday.”

Joe Nemechek (eighth) qualified for his third race of the season and posted his best start since he was seventh at Talladega last October.

Scott Speed (26th) was the fastest qualifying rookie.

Starting Line Up by Row
Atlanta Motor Speedway
KOBALT TOOLS 500

Driver Date Time Speed
Track Race Record: Dale Earnhardt 11/12/95 03:03:03 163.633
Pos Car Driver Team Time Speed
Row 1: 1 5 Mark Martin Kellogg’s/CARQUEST Chevrolet 29.640 187.045
2 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge 29.748 186.365
Row 2: 3 26 Jamie McMurray IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford 29.757 186.309
4 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet 29.773 186.209
Row 3: 5 16 Greg Biffle 3M Ford 29.777 186.184
6 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Ground Toyota 29.780 186.165
Row 4: 7 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet 29.798 186.053
8 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 29.819 185.922
Row 5: 9 18 Kyle Busch M&M’s Toyota 29.824 185.891
10 29 Kevin Harvick Reese’s Chevrolet 29.833 185.834
Row 6: 11 14 Tony Stewart Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet 29.848 185.741
12 39 Ryan Newman Haas Automation Chevrolet 29.874 185.579
Row 7: 13 9 Kasey Kahne Budweiser Dodge 29.898 185.430
14 19 Elliott Sadler Best Buy Dodge 29.913 185.337
Row 8: 15 31 Jeff Burton Caterpillar Chevrolet 29.922 185.282
16 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont/National Guard Youth Challenge 29.924 185.269
Row 9: 17 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota 29.976 184.948
18 00 David Reutimann Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota 29.989 184.868
Row 10: 19 7 Robby Gordon Jim Beam Toyota 30.023 184.658
20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet 30.049 184.499
Row 11: 21 33 Clint Bowyer BB&T Chevrolet 30.049 184.499
22 28 Travis Kvapil Golden Corral Ford 30.088 184.260
Row 12: 23 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shop/Tracker Boats Chevrolet 30.113 184.107
24 55 Michael Waltrip NAPA Auto Parts Toyota 30.129 184.009
Row 13: 25 07 Casey Mears DirecTV Chevrolet 30.130 184.003
26 82 Scott Speed # Red Bull Toyota 30.134 183.978
Row 14: 27 66 Dave Blaney Prism Motorsports Toyota 30.139 183.948
28 12 David Stremme Penske Dodge 30.143 183.923
Row 15: 29 99 Carl Edwards Aflac Ford 30.150 183.881
30 17 Matt Kenseth DeWalt Ford 30.164 183.795
Row 16: 31 71 David Gilliland TRG Motorsports Chevrolet 30.169 183.765
32 43 Reed Sorenson Super 8 Dodge 30.171 183.753
Row 17: 33 98 Paul Menard Pittsburgh Paints/Menards Ford 30.248 183.285
34 47 Marcos Ambrose Kingsford/Clorox/Little Debbie Toyota 30.250 183.273
Row 18: 35 21 Bill Elliott Motorcraft Ford 30.251 183.267
36 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Mobil 1 Dodge 30.254 183.248
Row 19: 37 8 Aric Almirola Cub Cadet Chevrolet 30.306 182.934
38 44 A J Allmendinger Charter Dodge 30.308 182.922
Row 20: 39 6 David Ragan UPS Ford 30.319 182.856
40 96 Bobby Labonte Ask.com Ford 30.331 182.783
Row 21: 41 34 John Andretti WindowWorld.com Chevrolet 30.358 182.621
42 20 Joey Logano # The Home Depot Toyota Owner Points
Row 22: 43 09 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 30.354 182.645
Did Not Qualify: # 35 Todd Bodine; # 36 Scott Riggs; # 41 Jeremy Mayfield; # 64 Geoff Bodine.
Manufacturer Starting Lineup DNQs
Chevrolet 16 0 Ford 9 0
Dodge 7 0 Toyota 11 4