Friday, October 8, 2010

McMurray on California Pepsi Max 400 Pole; His Fourth Pole of 2010

Associated Press
FONTANA, Calif. -- Jamie McMurray and Elliott Sadler will start up front at Auto Club Speedway after a rough day of qualifying for several Chase contenders.
McMurray had a fast lap of 185.285 mph around the two-mile oval Friday, just ahead of Sadler, another non-qualifier in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. It's McMurray's fourth pole this season.
Points leader Jimmie Johnson will start eighth Sunday, while fellow Chasers Matt Kenseth (third) andGreg Biffle (seventh) also made it into the top 10.
Several Chase drivers struggled on a warm Southern California day, with five qualifying 20th or worse.
Denny Hamlin, who trails Johnson by eight points, will start 34th and Kurt Busch 39th.

Notes-n-Nuggets

• Friday marked the fourth pole of 2010 for Jamie McMurray, the most of all-drivers.
• Jamie McMurray becomes the second driver to sweep both poles at Auto Club Speedway, joining Kurt Busch in 2006.
• This is the 13th pole of 2010 for Chevrolet, more than twice as many as any other manufacturers.
• Elliott Sadler (second) time trialed on the front-row for the first time since starting second at Phoenix in April 2008.
• Matt Kenseth (third) has his best start since starting second at Talladega in April.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr. (ninth) starts in the top-10 for only the second time in the past 16 races.

Friday's practice: for the Pepsi Max 400 Sprint Cup Series race at Auto Club Speedway is over, after 90 scheduled minutes, the top five, slowest and any notes:
#1-McMurray 183.833
#43-Allmendinger 183.407
#16-Biffle 183.239
#18-Busch 183.006
#5-Martin 182.950
#42-Montoya 182.950
slowest: #34-Kvapil 174.808 & #83-Sorenson 175.447
notes: late in practice, #83-Sorenson spun off turn 2, didn't hit anything, but blew the tires. (from Jayski.com)

Pepsi Max 400 First Practice

Pepsi Max 400 Starting Lineup

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