Qualifying Fast Facts
Pocono Raceway
Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500
Coors Light Pole Winner: Jimmie Johnson
Age: 32
Team : No. 48 - Lowe’s Chevrolet
Owner: Jeff Gordon
Crew Chief: Chad Knaus
Speedway,IN) — Last year at Indy, Jimmie Johnson’s No. 48 Lowe’s Chevy literally caught fire in a late race crash ending his day.
Today, Johnson and his team “caught fire” in qualifying, winning Coors Light Pole Award for the Allstate 400 at The Brickyard with a lap of 49.515 seconds, 181.763 mph.
This is his first pole in seven races at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and his 15th pole in 239 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series races.
JR Motorsports Names Interim Crew Chief for No. 5 Nationwide Team
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – JR Motorsports announced today that Cam Strader will assume crew chief duties for the No. 5 NASCAR Nationwide Series team starting this weekend at O’Reilly Raceway Park. He replaces Chad Walter, who has resigned.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Coke Zero 400 Powered by Coca-Cola
Daytona International Speedway
Qualifying Fast Facts
Coors Light Pole Winner: Paul Menard
Age: 27
Team: No. 15 Menards/Vertis Chevrolet
Owner: Teresa Earnhardt
Crew Chief: Doug Randolph
MARK MARTIN TO JOIN HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS;35-TIME RACE WINNER WILL DRIVE FULL 2009 SEASON IN NO. 5 CHEVROLETS
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 4, 2008) - “Since this has been such a well-kept secret” laughed Rick Hendrick, as he announced officially that Mark Martin, a 35-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race winner and the all-time leader in NASCAR Nationwide Series victories, has signed a two-year agreement to drive for Hendrick Motorsports beginning in 2009.
“they must’ve been reading our text messages” added Martin, grinning.
Almirola to Pilot No. 8 Car Full Time in 2009
Rookie driver promoted to full-time Sprint Cup status next season: After spending two seasons sharing a car with veteran Mark Martin, 24-year-old Aric Almirola will take over the No. 8 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chevrolet full time in 2009. …Almirola, from Tampa, Fla., began sharing the Sprint Cup ride with Martin during the second half of the 2007 season and has continued in that role in 2008. During his 11 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts, the rookie driver has shown vast improvement, posting a top-10 finish in his debut this season at Bristol and qualifying third a week later at Martinsville.
Veteran Driver Strong as ever in ‘part-time’ role with Dale Earnhardt Inc.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. – Fresh off the strength of back-to-back top-five finishes at Phoenix and Richmond, Mark Martin has helped lead the No. 8 U.S. Army Team to a 14th-place position in the Sprint Cup owner points – only 31 points outside of the top 12.
The top 12 is the cutoff point for teams eligible for the Chase for the Sprint Cup title. The recent strength of the No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. team could very likely create an interesting scenario that would see the No. 8 Team with Martin and co-driver Aric Almirola run for an Owner’s Championship come September.
Chesterfield, Virginia rests just a mere 15 minutes or so from Richmond International Raceway. Chesterfield is the hometown of Denny Hamlin. Hamin considers RIR his hometown track.
So with friends and family in the stands and in force cheering the hometown boy on, Hamlin put his No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry from Joe Gibbs Racing on the pole for Saturday night’s Crown Royal Presents the Dan Lowry 400 Sprint Cup race.
On his second lap in Friday’s time trials, Hamlin toured the .75-mile “D”-shaped short track in 21.395 seconds tearing off a lap at 126.198 mph to edge Mark Martin . Martin, who had gone out early in the session, had covered the distance in 21.423 seconds.
Record cautions and tricky track surface leaves many with bruised egos and torn-up race cars.
LAS VEGAS (March 1, 2008) — Before Mark Martin allowed himself to celebrate his victory in the NASCAR Nationwide Series Sam’s Town 300 Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he felt compelled to offer his condolences to a former teammate and a current one.
Martin pulled away from Greg Biffle in a green-white-checkered-flag restart that took the race two laps beyond its posted distance of 200 laps and extended his series record to 48 career victories, but the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet was subdued after triggering a wreck on Lap 195 that eliminated Carl Edwards, his former Roush Fenway Racing teammate, and Brad Keselowski, his teammate-for-a-day at JR Motorsports.
As Edwards and Keselowski raced side by side toward the stripe on Lap 195, a tap from Martin turned Edwards’ Ford into Keselowski’s Chevrolet, sending both cars spinning into the frontstretch wall.
© 2008 Backstretch Motorsports. All rights reserved.
A member of the Thunder Lounge Community.
Join me in the community today!
