Allmendinger on the Subway Fresh Fit 600 pole

A.J. Allmendinger has earned his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole on Friday night at Phoenix International Speedway. 

Allmendinger’s lap of 134.675 mph was good enough to capture the front row for Saturday nights Subway Fresh Fit 600.   “I knew we were going to be quick. We were quick in practice, but when you go out there you just don’t know how much grip is going to be on the race track.” Allmendinger said.  “It is exciting to get that first pole. It is a small victory, but it means so much to this race team and me. In this sport, it is all about confidence. To know we have a good car and to go out there and back it up in qualifying is great. We seemed to be just missing it a little bit each week, so to go out there and get the job done is a big deal.”   Scott Speed will share the front row. Sam Hornish Jr. qualified third, Marcos Ambrose fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified fifth.   “Things are starting off this weekend a little bit better than the last two. I had to shave all the black hair because that seemed to be bad luck. I also named our car, her name is ‘Rattlesnake.’ I think it’s kind of mean and sounds fast. We’re in Phoenix, so it fits. I don’t know which one of those has changed our luck around, but we’ll continue doing all of them.” Speed said.   “It was better than I thought it was. All these guys going directly behind us are pretty good race cars. My car drove pretty good. I knew the first lap was the only lap after lap 1 our car would just go away really bad in qualifying trim, so I had to get everything we could and just not make any mistakes that first lap because that was the only opportunity for us. Our car lost a good two or three-tenths on that second lap every time we tried it today.” Earnhardt Jr. said.   Series points leader Jimmie Johnson has won four of the last five races at Phoenix, qualified 16th.   Denny Hamlin qualified 26th and plans on starting the race. Casey Mears is standing by to take over if needed.   Starting Lineup

Pos. No. Driver Make Speed Time Behind
1 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 134.675 26.731
2 82 Scott Speed Toyota 134.374 26.791 -0.06
3 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 134.198 26.826 -0.095
4 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 133.814 26.903 -0.172
5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 133.64 26.938 -0.207
6 20 Joey Logano Toyota 133.427 26.981 -0.25
7 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 133.338 26.999 -0.268
8 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 133.294 27.008 -0.277
9 99 Carl Edwards Ford 133.254 27.016 -0.285
10 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 133.249 27.017 -0.286
11 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 133.215 27.024 -0.293
12 66 Michael McDowell Toyota 133.136 27.04 -0.309
13 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 133.126 27.042 -0.311
14 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 133.013 27.065 -0.334
15 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 132.974 27.073 -0.342
16 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 132.905 27.087 -0.356
17 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 132.89 27.09 -0.359
18 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 132.871 27.094 -0.363
19 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 132.817 27.105 -0.374
20 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 132.792 27.11 -0.379
21 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 132.787 27.111 -0.38
22 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 132.748 27.119 -0.388
23 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 132.734 27.122 -0.391
24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 132.719 27.125 -0.394
25 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 132.607 27.148 -0.417
26 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 132.572 27.155 -0.424
27 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 132.504 27.169 -0.438
28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 132.441 27.182 -0.451
29 6 David Ragan Ford 132.324 27.206 -0.475
30 16 Greg Biffle Ford 132.299 27.211 -0.48
31 55 Dave Blaney Toyota 132.222 27.227 -0.496
32 98 Paul Menard Ford 132.163 27.239 -0.508
33 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 132.057 27.261 -0.53
34 13 Max Papis Toyota 131.984 27.276 -0.545
35 190 Scott Riggs Chevrolet 131.868 27.3 -0.569
36 37 David Gilliland Ford 131.829 27.308 -0.577
37 135 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 131.593 27.357 -0.626
38 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 131.339 27.41 -0.679
39 0 David Reutimann Toyota 130.719 27.54 -0.809
40 71 Bobby Labonte+ Chevrolet 130.109 27.669 -0.938
41 34 Travis Kvapil+ Ford 129.908 27.712 -0.981
42 38 Kevin Conway+* Ford 127.542 28.226 -1.495
43 46 Terry Cook* Dodge 131.569 27.362 -0.631

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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