Ambrose wins pole at The Glen

Marcos Ambrose

Marcos Ambrose won the Coors Light Pole Award in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying with a track-record lap of 128.241 mph at Watkins Glen International.

The pole position was Ambrose’s first of the season, first at the 2.45-mile road course and third of his career. He’ll start first in the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford in Sunday’s Cheez-It 355 at the Glen (1 p.m. ET, ESPN), the 22nd event of the 26-race regular season.

"It wasn’t perfect, but we carried a lot of momentum," Ambrose said. "It was enough to get the job done."

Ambrose was the fastest of 10 drivers who broke the previous qualifying record of 127.020 mph, set by Juan Pablo Montoya last August. It marked the 12th time this season that a track record has fallen, thanks to the advent of the lighter, fastest sixth generation of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car this year.

Clint Bowyer will start second in the No. 15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota after a lap of 127.958 mph. Martin Truex Jr. — Bowyer's MWR teammate and a winner earlier in the year at Sonoma Raceway, the other road course on the Sprint Cup schedule — qualified third. AJ Allmendinger and Kyle Busch completed the top five.

The qualifying session was the second in the history of the Sprint Cup tour to use the European-style, group qualifying format for road courses. Drivers hit the track in eight groups of five or six cars. The series debuted the new qualifying system at Sonoma in June.

Brian Keselowski spun at the end of the first qualifying group, sliding to a stop in the Turn 5 retaining wall. He will start last in Sunday’s 220.5-mile race.

With 43 drivers competing for 43 starting spots, no drivers failed to qualify.

Lineup

Pos Driver Car Make Sponsor Speed Time Behind
1 Marcos Ambrose 9 Ford Stanley / CTC Jumpstart 128.241 68.777 Leader
2 Clint Bowyer 15 Toyota Peak/Duck Dynasty 127.958 68.929 –0.152
3 Martin Truex Jr 56 Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 127.462 69.197 –0.420
4 AJ Allmendinger 47 Toyota Scott Products 127.433 69.213 –0.436
5 Kyle Busch 18 Toyota M&M's 127.400 69.231 –0.454
6 Jamie McMurray 1 Chevrolet McDonald's/Monopoly 127.374 69.245 –0.468
7 Paul Menard 27 Chevrolet Menards / Splash 127.146 69.369 –0.592
8 Brad Keselowski 2 Ford Miller Lite 127.141 69.372 –0.595
9 Joey Logano 22 Ford Shell-Pennzoil 127.111 69.388 –0.611
10 Matt Kenseth 20 Toyota The Home Depot / Husky 127.038 69.428 –0.651
11 Juan Pablo Montoya 42 Chevrolet Target 126.932 69.486 –0.709
12 Michael McDowell 35 Ford Dockside Logistics 126.823 69.546 –0.769
13 Kurt Busch 78 Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing-Denver Mattress 126.813 69.551 –0.774
14 Ryan Newman 39 Chevrolet Haas Automation 30th Anniversary 126.766 69.577 –0.800
15 Brian Vickers 55 Toyota Toyota Camry 30th Anniversary 126.515 69.715 –0.938
16 Carl Edwards 99 Ford Kelloggs / Cheez-it 126.464 69.743 –0.966
17 Greg Biffle 16 Ford 3M / 811 126.377 69.791 –1.014
18 Jimmie Johnson 48 Chevrolet Lowe's 126.357 69.802 –1.025
19 Kasey Kahne 5 Chevrolet Farmers Insurance 126.321 69.822 –1.045
20 Denny Hamlin 11 Toyota FedEx Ground 126.209 69.884 –1.107
21 David Gilliland 38 Ford Long John Silver's 126.124 69.931 –1.154
22 Jeff Burton 31 Chevrolet Caterpillar 126.086 69.952 –1.175
23 Owen Kelly 51 Chevrolet Phoenix Construction Services Inc. 126.011 69.994 –1.217
24 Ron Fellows 33 Chevrolet Canadian Tire 125.924 70.042 –1.265
25 Dale Earnhardt Jr 88 Chevrolet National Guard 125.876 70.069 –1.292
26 Kevin Harvick 29 Chevrolet Budweiser 125.711 70.161 –1.384
27 Boris Said 32 Ford U.S. Chrome 125.707 70.163 –1.386
28 Jeff Gordon 24 Chevrolet Drive To End Hunger 125.591 70.228 –1.451
29 Max Papis 14 Chevrolet Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1 125.589 70.229 –1.452
30 Casey Mears 13 Ford GEICO 124.890 70.622 –1.845
31 David Ragan 34 Ford Taco Bell 124.848 70.646 –1.869
32 Aric Almirola 43 Ford Smithfield 124.793 70.677 –1.900
33 Ricky Stenhouse Jr 17 Ford Best Buy 124.576 70.800 –2.023
34 Victor Gonzalez Jr 36 Chevrolet Mobil 1/IMCA 123.878 71.199 –2.422
35 Danica Patrick 10 Chevrolet GoDaddy.com 123.750 71.273 –2.496
36 David Reutimann 83 Toyota Burger King / Dr. Pepper 123.708 71.297 –2.520
37 Alex Kennedy 19 Toyota MediaMaster 123.687 71.309 –2.532
38 Travis Kvapil 93 Toyota Burger King / Dr. Pepper 123.637 71.338 –2.561
39 David Stremme 30 Toyota Genny Light 123.157 71.616 –2.839
40 Dave Blaney 7 Chevrolet TBA 123.095 71.652 –2.875
41 Landon Cassill 40 Chevrolet Interstate Moving Services 122.004 72.293 –3.516
42 Tomy Drissi 87 Toyota The Counselor 120.295 73.320 –4.543
43 Brian Keselowski 52 Toyota Star Coach Race Tours 118.924 74.165 –5.388