PHOENIX (Feb. 26, 2011) — Regan Smith’s qualifying lap Saturday resulted in the fifth-starting position for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race at Phoenix International Raceway.
It was the second-straight race of posting a fifth-place starting spot for Smith, who started last week’s Daytona 500 from the same position. And going back to last season, the Furniture Row Racing driver is now at five consecutive races of qualifying in the top 10.
Smith’s No. 78 machine was the fastest Chevrolet in qualifying with a lap time and speed of 26.283 seconds at 136.971 miles per hour.
“I was surprised – I thought it was a slow lap, to be honest,” said Smith. “So, I’m really pleased with that time. Sometimes when you’re fast it feels slow. We were a little off in qualifying trim yesterday so we made some adjustments today and everybody on this Furniture Row Chevy did an awesome job. We’ve been really working hard with our program to get it to this level.”
The pole winner was Carl Edwards (26.224 at 137.279 mph). Rounding out the top-five in order were: Kurt Busch, Kasey Kahne, Kyle Busch and Smith.
Sunday’s Subway Fresh Fit 500 will be televised on FOX, beginning with a 30-minute prerace show at 12:30 p.m. MT.
