Vickers roars to pole for Toyota

Brian Vickers

Brian Vickers roared to the Coors Light Pole Award on Saturday afternoon, working the aerodynamic draft to great effect during a qualifying session full of surprises at Talladega Superspeedway.

Vickers, driving the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 55 Toyota to a fast lap of 196.129 mph, will start first in Sunday's GEICO 500 (2 p.m. ET, ESPN), the sixth race of the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup playoffs and the finale of the three-race Contender Round. After Sunday's race, four drivers will be eliminated from the field of title-eligible drivers, leaving just eight remaining in the championship hunt.

Vickers' pole position was his first since August 2009 and the 12th of his Sprint Cup career.

"It's crazy," said Vickers, who benefited from a slowing field that allowed him to catch an aero pull at the end. "I thought with coming to three (laps) to go we had literally no shot. … I just tried not to wreck."

Six-time series champion Jimmie Johnson turned a lap of 195.732 mph in the third and final round of group qualifying, allowing him to start second in Sunday's main event in the Hendrick Motorsports No. 48 Chevrolet. Johnson, mired back in a tie for last place among Chase eligible drivers, likely needs to win Sunday to keep his championship hopes intact.

AJ Allmendinger qualified third with Ryan Blaney + making his second Sprint Cup start + fourth ahead of Team Penske teammate Brad Keselowski in fifth place. Terry Labonte qualified an impressive ninth for the final start of his career in NASCAR's top division. Keselowski, though, will be dropping to the rear of the field because of a change to the alternator on his No. 2 Ford.
Saturday's qualifying on the 2.66-mile speedway was the first for NASCAR's premier series using a new format at restrictor-plate tracks. Each knockout stage of multicar qualifying was scheduled for five minutes, with the field being divided into two five-minute group sessions (determined by random draw) for the first elimination phase. The rules change was intended to curb the tactic of drivers on the track at widely varying speeds, lagging behind for an aerodynamic pull or better positioning in the draft.

Paul Menard, making his first start with crew chief Justin Alexander atop the Richard Childress Racing No. 27 pit box, was fastest in the first group of the first session with a lap at 198.903 mph. That time held up as the best overall after the second 23-driver group clocked their times.

In each opening-round group, a Chase driver took to the track in a solo run while others waited on pit road for an advantageous time to start qualifying. Denny Hamlin drove off by himself and was slowest of the 23 drivers in the opening five-minute group. Carl Edwards did the same in the second opening group, but rejoined the rest of the field on pit road to draft with the others.

The waiting game cost a handful of big-name drivers in the second qualifying group in the opening session. It cost Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the most as he failed to make the field for the first time in his Sprint Cup career.

Four-time series champion Jeff Gordon was also bitten early on, as he never got up to full song for a qualifying lap at speed before time expired; he registered the slowest time among the 46 drivers at 176.562 mph.

"I messed up, ultimately," Gordon said. "I just mistimed getting to the line. The whole group was moving so slow and I had to have a gap. … It's a mess out there. It's not easy."

Stenhouse blamed Gordon and the No. 24's spotter for the qualifying mix-up: "He kept slowing the pack down and we didn't get a good lap and never got across the start/finish line in time," Stenhouse said. "My spotter was giving me the information I needed and I wish the 24 would have been doing the same."

Others affected were Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch + who claimed the 40th- through 42nd-fastest laps and failed to advance past the first elimination. Greg Biffle was 25th-fastest, making him the first driver failing to make the cut for the second qualifying session.

"You are trying to set yourself up to go fast. I don't know," Logano said. "If you lay back you get a faster lap but if you don't go, you don't get there in time. I don't know how much we missed it by. I guess it was about a half a second that we missed it by and that was enough. You have to draw the line somewhere and that is where it was."

A large contingent of part-time drivers and surprising names making the 24-driver first cut + Blaney, Trevor Bayne, Michael McDowell, Travis Kvapil, Cole Whitt and Mike Wallace among them + made for what seemed to be three stunners on the failed-to-qualify list: Stenhouse, Justin Allgaier and Reed Sorenson.

That list changed, though, in a post-qualifying inspection when the qualifying speed for Joe Nemechek was disallowed after officials discovered an improperly sealed oil tank encasement. That ruling left Nemechek out and reinstated Sorenson to the starting lineup.
The surprises continued in the second round, with Kvapil topping the board at 196.907 mph in the Circle Sport Racing No. 33 Chevrolet, the same car that won the pole position with Brian Scott aboard at Talladega in May. McDowell, Labonte and McDowell also advanced to the final five-minute session.

The four drivers currently outside the top eight positions in the Sprint Cup standings can control their own destiny with a victory on Sunday, but others have better than outside chances of advancing with solid results and significant points.

Two of those drivers in the bottom four + Matt Kenseth and Keselowski + will drop to the rear for unapproved adjustments. Kenseth, just one point behind eighth-place Kasey Kahne at the cut-off line, will drop to the rear of the field during pace laps Sunday because of an unapproved engine change in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 Toyota before qualifying. He participated in time trials regardless of the penalty, winding up 13th in an attempt to grab a favorable selection of pit stall and just missing the final 12-driver cut.

BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Starting Position: 1st

Were you surprised to end up with the pole in this format?
"It's crazy. I thought that coming to three (laps) to go that we had literally no shot. We were way back + like a half a straightaway behind the whole field and they all checked up and gave me a chance and gave me a run. I really get no credit for it. I just tried not to wreck. Billy (Scott, crew chief) and all the guys did a great job with the car and Billy had a strategy and a plan + we stuck to it even when I thought we were crazy and we were going to be in trouble we stuck to his plan. My spotter did a great job on top of the tower and we found some speed. This Aaron's Dream Machine was quick and we have a new car here for this speedway race + the Camry is running good."

What does it mean to earn the pole for this race at Talladega?
"I've always loved coming here. It's always been a special place. To be able to get your first win here and I think it's the first pole for the Aaron's Dream Machine, which his pretty awesome. This is a special track for Aaron's + they have the Aaron's 499 here so that's always cool. Honestly, people say this, but I really mean it + all the credit should go to the guys. They did a great job with the car. Billy (Scott, crew chief) had a strategy and I basically just went when he said to go and when we were about a half a track behind the whole field I definitely had some reservations, I'm not going to lie to you, about our strategy. But it panned out and he did a great job calling all three rounds. Roman did a really good job spotting from the top and just really proud of the whole effort. Hopefully we can keep this Aaron's Dream Machine Camry up front all day tomorrow. We know that's probably not likely + it is Talladega, but most importantly we have a great starting position, great pit selection and hopefully we'll be there at the end of the race. We had a lot of luck today and the cards fell our way and you can't discount that. There is no question about it. I think some of it came + I have an opportunity to stay with some friends that live not too far from here and we wanted to build a campfire and have some smores last night. We had no fire wood and no smores. We drove up the street to Dollar General, got some smores and then I drove all the way back out to the race track and stopped on the side of the road and saw Rusty + that's the only name I got was Rusty + to get some fire wood. Got three loads of fire wood, went back and had smores. I think that's what did it."

Can you will from the pole as you did in 2009 at Michigan?
"Hopefully we can have the same results. As you know Talladega is a different animal. I think we've got a good car and a good team. We've had great pit stops lately and hopefully we can stay out of trouble and up front. It's going to be a wild race. I'm excited to see it as a fan + the replays I should say. As a driver it's going to be interesting. There's a lot of strategies playing out and there's going to be a lot going on tomorrow with guys kind of going all out and going for a win to get in the Chase and some guys playing it safe and everyone in between and teams like us just trying to get in victory lane with nothing to lose. We're going to try to figure out what that best strategy is + I'm sure it will change like 20 times throughout the race and try to be there at the end. I think we're certainly capable of being in victory lane here. This whole team has done a great job, but we've got a lot of work to do between here and there."

Was this race circled on your calendar after being so close at Daytona?
"I think every race is circled on your calendar right? You want to win them all. I love speedway racing and I hated to see Daytona get cut short. I thought we had a shot at a win and we did have a shot at a win there, but that's that. It's the past and today is today and tomorrow will be tomorrow and that's our focus right now is getting in victory lane. I don't know that even if we would have won Daytona I don't know if I would want to win this race any less. Hopefully we can get out there and get it done tomorrow."

Lineup