Carl Edwards carried momentum from his second place in the Daytona 500 by setting a new track record in Saturday's qualifying at Phoenix.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup Series points leader set a time of 26.224 seconds at an average speed of 137.279 mph, beating the mark that he had set back in November when the series last raced at the one-mile oval. Roush Fenway racer Edwards got a perfect exit out of Turn 4 on his second lap, improving on the previous benchmark - also under the existing track record - of Red Bull's Kasey Kahne.
Penske's Kurt Busch, who was last on the track for his run due to the new procedure that sets the running order based on the fastest practice times, came closest to beating Edwards but ended up short by 32 thousandths. However, for the second week in a row, he will get to start from the front row, ahead of Kahne's Red Bull Toyota and the Joe Gibbs Racing Camry of Busch's brother Kyle.
The planned reconfiguration of the track, which is set to debut when the series returns during the Chase, means that Edwards' mark will remain the record for the current low-banked layout, as variable banking is being introduced along with a new surface.
Cool track temperatures and a new tyre selection from Goodyear contributed to 15 drivers running under the previous track benchmark.
"This new qualifying format is a little stressful," said Edwards. "I had to watch Kyle go, and I know how fast he was, and then Kurt was screaming fast yesterday, so he had me stressed out a little bit. It's fortunate we were able to sit on the pole. I love this racetrack. I know all the drivers love this racetrack. It's really fun to drive on and starting up front is, hopefully, going to make the race a lot simpler...
"Track position is huge here, especially on the short run. I think we'll have that first pit stall. I'm assuming that's what [crew chief] Bob [Osborne] will pick and that really helped us a lot in the fall [autumn] to have a good pit stall because I would lose a couple [of] spots, and Kurt and I actually raced a tonne, and he would take off and leave us, but we had the advantage of the pit stall and sometimes we'd come back out front and he'd pass me again.
"But having that pit stall means a lot and it will hopefully help us throughout the whole race."
Regan Smith also carried his speed from Daytona, rounding out the top five at the wheel of the Furniture Row Chevrolet, ahead of Gibbs' Joey Logano. Both Penske Dodges were in the top 10 as Brad Keselowski held pole provisionally before dropping down the timesheets to ninth-fastest.
Denny Hamlin, who dominated at Phoenix last autumn before fuel calculations came into play, was 12th, while two-time winner at the track Kevin Harvick was 17th-fastest. Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson, the Cup driver with the best record at the track, was only 28th-quickest.
Daytona 500 winner Trevor Bayne was 37th running in his back-up car, after crashing his primary Wood Brothers Ford on his first practice lap on Friday due to a suspected brake problem.
Casey Mears was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 27th at the wheel of Germain Racing's Toyota, while Daytona 500 upset qualifier Brian Keselowski was slowest in his K-Automotive Dodge, thus failing to make the field for Sunday's 500km event.
Source:
No comments:
Post a Comment