[media-credit name=”Credit: Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images” align=”alignright” width=”225″]
[/media-credit]Marcos Ambrose captured the pole for Sunday’s Quicken Loans 400 at Michigan Int’l Speedway with a record lap of 203.241 MPH (35.430 seconds).
This was Ambrose’s first career Sprint Cup Series pole and he also broke the track record previously held by Ryan Newman (194.232 MPH) in 2005.
“I left a little bit out there. I got greedy into turn three. The Stanley team at Richard Petty Motorsports did an outstanding job for us. This is a really great hot rod and I am proud to represent them. We get to start in the front and that is all you can ask for.” Ambrose said.
The top-40 cars in qualifying beat the old qualifying record and nineteen broke the 200 MPH mark on Saturday.
The last pole winner to break 200 mph was Bill Elliott in 1987 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Kevin Harvick qualified second, Greg Biffle third, Kasey Kahne fourth and Ryan Newman qualified fifth.
“I got about all I could get I think out of the car. I thought there would be more grip in one and two so I backed it down a little bit in three and four and it might have cost me.” Biffle said.
Trevor Bayne had to qualify to start on Sunday and he qualified seventh.
“I am still shaking man that is fast out there. I wish I could have got a little more out of it but I just didn’t trust it on entry. It got a little loose on me and was more free than yesterday. Not sure if that is the track or the heat. I wish I could have drove in a little deeper. I think I could have got another tenth or so. It isn’t a bad starting spot though. We will take a top-10 here.” Bayne said.
A left-side tire issue has made NASCAR add an evening practice session to be held after the NASCAR Nationwide race on Saturday. NASCAR’s vice president of competition, Robin Pemberton said that the speeds in excess of 200 mph plus the blistering of left-side tires on some cars in Friday’s two practice sessions have caused Goodyear to bring 1,200 new left-side tires from a North Carolina warehouse in on Saturday morning. The change was made to keep “safety and competition in mind” and to reduce speeds.
“We just trust that NASCAR and Goodyear know enough about the tire we’re putting on that the problem doesn’t migrate over to the right side. I hope that’s the case.” Jack Roush said.
However, qualifying on Saturday was done with the original tire.
“We are going to try the tire change tonight and see how our car adapts to that.” polesitter Ambrose said.
Clint Bowyer is unsure what the new left-side tires will bring.
“It’s going to be tough to pass anyway, but we’ll just see what the tire brings. It’s going to be a lot harder, it’s going to be more of a bear than we even had before. The grip level is going to be down, but only time will tell how bad it interrupts our cars.” Bowyer said.
