bigbadbrother
10-18-2014, 10:08 PM
Tom Jensen
Talladega, Ala. —
Brian Vickers won the pole for Sunday's GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, where a new qualifying format frustrated and confused some of the sport's top competitors.
And given the track's history, where drivers qualified might not matter anyway.
Pole-winner Vickers claimed the top spot with a lap of 196.129 miles per hour in his No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. It was the 12th career pole for Vickers and his first since August of 2009
Qualifying second was Jimmie Johnson, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski.
Only four of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup qualified in the top 12.
For Talladega, qualifying rules were heavily modified.
The 46-car field was split into two groups of 23 drivers each. Round 1 consisted of a 5-minute qualifying session for each of the two groups of 23.
The 24 drivers with the fastest speed in Round 1 advanced to Round 2, which was 5 minutes in length.
The 12 fastest from Round 2 moved on to the 5-minute third and final round that determined the pole.
Of course, qualifying here is arguably less important than at almost any other track in NASCAR. Since 1999, 17 of 31 Talladega races have been won from a qualifying spot outside the top 10. Denny Hamlin won the spring race here after starting 34th, one position of Greg Biffle, who finished second.
Still the format was not a hit with the drivers, especially since the sessions were in late afternoon, after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
"Qualifying's silly ... there's no strategy to it," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who failed to advance out of Round 1, along with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. "You just get out there and run."
"You don't really feel like you're doing your part as a race-car driver," said Jimmie Johnson, who barely squeaked into the second round.
Chase drivers who didn't make it out of the first round were Earnhardt (29th), Denny Hamlin (37th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Joey Logano (39th), Kyle Busch (40th) and Jeff Gordon (42nd).
Matt Kenseth (13th) and Carl Edwards (15th) failed to make it out of the second round.
Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. failed to qualify and Tony Stewart made the race on a past champion's provisional.
Talladega, Ala. —
Brian Vickers won the pole for Sunday's GEICO 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, where a new qualifying format frustrated and confused some of the sport's top competitors.
And given the track's history, where drivers qualified might not matter anyway.
Pole-winner Vickers claimed the top spot with a lap of 196.129 miles per hour in his No. 55 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. It was the 12th career pole for Vickers and his first since August of 2009
Qualifying second was Jimmie Johnson, followed by AJ Allmendinger, Ryan Blaney and Brad Keselowski.
Only four of the 12 drivers in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup qualified in the top 12.
For Talladega, qualifying rules were heavily modified.
The 46-car field was split into two groups of 23 drivers each. Round 1 consisted of a 5-minute qualifying session for each of the two groups of 23.
The 24 drivers with the fastest speed in Round 1 advanced to Round 2, which was 5 minutes in length.
The 12 fastest from Round 2 moved on to the 5-minute third and final round that determined the pole.
Of course, qualifying here is arguably less important than at almost any other track in NASCAR. Since 1999, 17 of 31 Talladega races have been won from a qualifying spot outside the top 10. Denny Hamlin won the spring race here after starting 34th, one position of Greg Biffle, who finished second.
Still the format was not a hit with the drivers, especially since the sessions were in late afternoon, after the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race.
"Qualifying's silly ... there's no strategy to it," said Dale Earnhardt Jr., who failed to advance out of Round 1, along with his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon. "You just get out there and run."
"You don't really feel like you're doing your part as a race-car driver," said Jimmie Johnson, who barely squeaked into the second round.
Chase drivers who didn't make it out of the first round were Earnhardt (29th), Denny Hamlin (37th), Kevin Harvick (38th), Joey Logano (39th), Kyle Busch (40th) and Jeff Gordon (42nd).
Matt Kenseth (13th) and Carl Edwards (15th) failed to make it out of the second round.
Reed Sorenson, Justin Allgaier and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. failed to qualify and Tony Stewart made the race on a past champion's provisional.