Tony Stewart wins Pocono pole
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| Tony Stewart |
| Jim Garrahan/AR1.com |
With news that he is need of new sponsors for next year, Tony Stewart, who has been nowhere all year, miraculously won the pole today for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500 at Pocono Raceway and got some much needed PR to help land a new sponsor.
Stewart won the pole by posting a fast lap of 171.393 mph in qualifying for his 12th career pole and second in 2010.
“I was really, really upset because I crashed while running second," Stewart said about his race last night. “Donny Schatz the last thing he told me before I left he said, ‘Take it out on those guys tomorrow.’ So I guess we took it out on them on the stopwatch."
Juan Pablo Montoya rebounded from a disappointing turn of events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway last weekend by recording the second fastest lap at 171.096 mph.
Denny Hamlin, who is seeking his third straight win at Pocono, qualified third with a lap of 170.371 mph. His last two victories have come from the sixth and fifth-place starting spots.
Jeff Gordon qualified fourth for his fifth consecutive top-10 start at Pocono.
Ryan Newman rounded out the top five.
Lineup
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Office Depot / Old Spice | 171.393 | 52.511 | Leader |
| 2 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 171.096 | 52.602 | -0.091 |
| 3 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Office | 170.371 | 52.826 | -0.315 |
| 4 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 170.222 | 52.872 | -0.361 |
| 5 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 169.936 | 52.961 | -0.450 |
| 6 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's | 169.901 | 52.972 | -0.461 |
| 7 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Insignia HDTV / Best Buy | 169.879 | 52.979 | -0.468 |
| 8 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 169.770 | 53.013 | -0.502 |
| 9 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Axe Twist | 169.696 | 53.036 | -0.525 |
| 10 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | HendrickCars.com / GoDaddy.com | 169.613 | 53.062 | -0.551 |
| 11 | 12 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Penske Racing | 169.543 | 53.084 | -0.573 |
| 12 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 3M | 169.447 | 53.114 | -0.603 |
| 13 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Miller Lite / Vortex | 169.441 | 53.116 | -0.605 |
| 14 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Shell / Pennzoil | 169.163 | 53.203 | -0.692 |
| 15 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | PPG | 169.122 | 53.216 | -0.705 |
| 16 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Ford | Budweiser | 169.100 | 53.223 | -0.712 |
| 17 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 169.024 | 53.247 | -0.736 |
| 18 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS | 168.995 | 53.256 | -0.745 |
| 19 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Toyota | Clorox / Kleenex | 168.700 | 53.349 | -0.838 |
| 20 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy / National Guard | 168.672 | 53.358 | -0.847 |
| 21 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's | 168.669 | 53.359 | -0.848 |
| 22 | 71 | Bobby Labonte | Chevrolet | TaxSlayer.com | 168.602 | 53.380 | -0.869 |
| 23 | 98 | Paul Menard | Ford | CertainTeed / Menards | 168.413 | 53.440 | -0.929 |
| 24 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron's Dream Machine | 168.366 | 53.455 | -0.944 |
| 25 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Aflac | 168.347 | 53.461 | -0.950 |
| 26 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 168.294 | 53.478 | -0.967 |
| 27 | 82 | Scott Speed | Toyota | Red Bull | 168.083 | 53.545 | -1.034 |
| 28 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 167.951 | 53.587 | -1.076 |
| 29 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Ford | U.S. Air Force | 167.813 | 53.631 | -1.120 |
| 30 | 46 | J.J. Yeley | Dodge | Whitney Motorsports | 167.629 | 53.690 | -1.179 |
| 31 | 83 | Reed Sorenson | Toyota | Red Bull | 167.370 | 53.773 | -1.262 |
| 32 | 38 | Travis Kvapil | Ford | Long John Silver's | 167.330 | 53.786 | -1.275 |
| 33 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | FrontRowJoe.com | 167.156 | 53.842 | -1.331 |
| 34 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 166.988 | 53.896 | -1.385 |
| 35 | 09 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Phoenix Construction | 166.988 | 53.896 | -1.385 |
| 36 | 55 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | Prism Motorsports | 166.979 | 53.899 | -1.388 |
| 37 | 37 | David Gilliland | Ford | Gander Mountain | 166.457 | 54.068 | -1.557 |
| 38 | 66 | Dave Blaney | Toyota | Prism Motorsports | 166.392 | 54.089 | -1.578 |
| 39 | 36 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | Tommy Baldwin Racing | 166.322 | 54.112 | -1.601 |
| 40 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | The Hartford | 165.511 | 54.377 | -1.866 |
| 41 | 34 | Kevin Conway+* | Ford | Extenze | 164.165 | 54.823 | -2.312 |
| 42 | 7 | P.J. Jones+ | Toyota | SpeedFactory.tv | – | – | – |
| 43 | 164 | Todd Bodine | Toyota | Gunselman Motorsports | 166.276 | 54.127 | -1.616 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 26 | David Stremme | Ford | Air National Guard | 165.387 | 54.418 | -1.907 |
| 45 | 13 | Max Papis | Toyota | GEICO | 165.026 | 54.537 | -2.026 |
+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie