JAMIE McMURRAY/No.1 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing Chevrolet has the pole position for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series 25th Toyota/Save Mart 350 Race at Sonoma Raceway. McMurray’s lap was 94.986 mph/1:15.422 seconds. Sonoma Raceway is a ten-turn, 1.99-mile elevated road course, the first of two on the 2013 Cup schedule.
This is McMurray’s second Sonoma Raceway pole, the last being in 2007, and his ninth in the series. He was in Group Eight, the last group to qualify. He characterizes Sonoma as “one of the funner tracks for me.”
McMurray also was a bit surprised at the speeds. “I had thought the times would be faster. Speed for this team really hasn’t been an issue. We’ve had plenty of speed; it’s just been about the last ten percent of the races and getting that finish. The truth is, I don’t really care if I lead the first lap tomorrow. I want to be there at the end. And this race, a lot of times comes down to the last restart and not getting in trouble. So, we’ll just dig and fight all day and I think our car will have enough speed. It will just be about not making any mistakes.”
Close on his heels, was MARCOS AMBROSE/No.9 Richard Petty Motorsports Ford, with a time of 94.924 mph/1:15.471 seconds. The margin between the Ambrose and McMurray was 0.062 mph/0.049 seconds. Ambrose has been fast all weekend, and still holds the Sprint Cup qualifying track record at Sonoma Raceway – 95.262 mph/1:15.203. He ran in Group Eight. Friday Ambrose had predicted that with the tires and new qualifying setup, records would be broken.
Third through fifth were CARL EDWARDS in No.99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, GREG BIFFLE in No.16 Roush Fenway Racing Ford and CLINT BOWYER/No.15 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota. Edwards had been in Group Five, while Biffle and Bowyer were in Group Seven. Bowyer is the 2012 Cup winner at Sonoma Raceway. Biffle finished seventh last year, and Edwards came in twenty-first.
Sixth through tenth were MATT KENSETH/No.20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; KURT BUSCH/No.78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet; JOEY LOGANO/No.22 Penske Racing Ford; KYLE BUSCH/No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota; and JEFF GORDON/Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. Gordon has five victories at Sonoma, three of which were back-to-back in 1998-2000. His last win was in 2006. Gordon, a native of nearby Vallejo CA, also has five poles at the wine country road course.
The top Road Racing Ringer was past Formula One World Champion, Canadian JACQUES VILLENEUVE/No.51 Phoenix Racing Chevrolet. He qualified twenty-second with a lap of 93.554 mph/1:16.576 seconds. This weekend marks his fourth career Cup start, the first on a road course. His best start was sixth at Talladega, and twenty-first was his best finish at that race in 2007. He said “It just wasn’t quick enough. It was a lot better than yesterday. We improved the car overnight and I was discovering it and I just didn’t drive aggressive enough on the first lap so there was still a little bit of time, but at least my car was a lot better today. They worked hard. I was discovering everything yesterday and so far, it’s been run.”
BORIS SAID/No.32 Fas Lane Racing Ford was twenty-fourth fastest, followed by Canadian RON FELLOWS/No.33 Circle Sport Chevrolet in P25. Said and Fellows have many, many years experience racing sedans including NASCAR. Said had the Cup pole in 2003. Fellows has run 23 NASCAR races, all but one on road courses. His best starts and finishes were second places, all at Watkins Glen International, the other road course on the Cup schedule.
DANICA PATRICK/No.10 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet was the top Rookie, in P31. “We picked up from practice. It was loose, especially in the faster part of the course. But we improved from yesterday and the GoDaddy guys have worked really hard this weekend. Hopefully we have a good day on Sunday.”
The only other Rookie in the field is Patrick’s boyfriend, RICKY STENHOUSE, Jr/No.17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford, who will start thirty-seventh.
JASON BOWLES qualified the No.55 Micael Waltrip Racing Toyota in thirty-fourth, but the car will go to the back of the field Sunday morning, due to driver change. BRIAN VICKERS is racing NASCAR Nationwide Series at Road America, and then will fly to Sonoma to race Sunday.
All 43 cars qualified. The ambient temperature was in the mid-eighties, with track temps at 115-117 degrees F. The skies were blue and the breezes were moderate.
Sunday’s race is 110 laps for 218.9 miles race. It will air live on TNT cable television at noon Pacific Time/3pm EDT.