JR Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins pole for Atlanta Nationwide race
By Jared Turner - SceneDaily Staff Writer
Saturday, September 05, 2009
JR Motorsports owner/driver Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from the pole in Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
HAMPTON, Ga. – It might be just a NASCAR Nationwide Series pole, but Dale Earnhardt Jr. finally has reason to smile.
Earnhardt Jr., who has struggled through a disappointing season in the Sprint Cup Series, snared his first pole in either of NASCAR’s top two divisions Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway and will lead the field to the green flag for Saturday night’s V12 300.
Making his seventh appearance of the season in the No. 5 JR Motorsports entry he co-owns with Rick Hendrick, Earnhardt Jr. paced Nationwide qualifying with a lap of 174.121 mph.
“It’s just a great package,” Earnhardt Jr. said of his car. The pole is Earnhardt Jr.'s first in the series since winning from the front row in 2004 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Kevin Harvick, driving the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet he co-owns with his wife, DeLana, will join Earnhardt Jr. on the outside of Row 1 thanks to a lap of 173.940.
Roush Fenway Racing’s David Ragan (173.635), Phoenix Racing’s Reed Sorenson and Braun Racing’s Kasey Kahne completed the top five.
Positions six through 10 belonged to Smith-Ganassi Racing’s David Gilliland, Michael Waltrip Racing’s Trevor Bayne, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch, Yates Racing’s Paul Menard and MSRP Motorsports’ Dave Blaney.
RAB Racing’s John Wes Townley, who crashed in the session, joined Cope/Keller Racing’s Derrike Cope, Faith Motorsports’ Morgan Shepherd, JD Motorsports’ J.C. Stout and Means Racing’s Tony Ave in failing to qualify and will miss the race.
The race is scheduled to begin just after 7 p.m. EDT Saturday.
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10 responses to "JR Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr. wins pole for Atlanta Nationwide race ". Post a Comment.
gthom56978 said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 3:51 PMCongratualation DALEJR> JUNIORNATION behind you all the way no matter what race it is.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgthom56978 said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 3:53 PMcongratulation!!!!!!had to spell it right, we have a teacher or whatever on this site sometimes, has an adverb that should have been used as an adjective. lol lol
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsweetthings88 said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 4:12 PMWOW!!!!! THATS MY MAN, CONGRATULATION DALE JR. AND TEAM. JUNIOR NATION IS ALIVE AND WELL.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportShort-Track said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 5:00 PMAll Chevy front row!Just gotta finish up there tonight...http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/nascar/cup/news/story?id=4448007...it's an interesting story and the last 2 sentences are very funny and maybe can be cleared up by MOTOPHOTO!I personally want to see his explanation!!!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBlaze8814 said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 5:12 PMWay to go Jr! A win tonight would be very good!!
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» Confirm Abuse ReportBlaze8814 said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 5:14 PMWay to go Jr!! A win tonight would be awesome!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdale-jr-is-the-greatest-driver-alive said:
Sep 5, 2009 at 8:47 PMhymm you ran 3rd all night used pit strategy too win but you still finished 3rd lol either way you were still good
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» Confirm Abuse Reportgwen_susie388 said:
Sep 6, 2009 at 8:31 AMCongrats Dale, JR on being on the pole and running good all night! Looking forward to watching the race tonight! Go Get Em Jr.!
Report as AbuseI am 100% behind you all the way!
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» Confirm Abuse Reporte_rock43 said:
Sep 7, 2009 at 7:31 AMnow jr, if you cannot win tonite, plus lead the most laps, something is bad wrong! its not that hard to race the KINDERGARTEN CLASS of nascar. you need to at least win with a 2 to 3 second lead over the 2nd place car!!! but if kyle busch is racing , you will probably not be able to keep up!!! kyle will probably lap you!!! good luck kid!!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportsandra-clark said:
Sep 7, 2009 at 12:29 PMErock someone needs to put you in the passenger side and take you around that track at 180.mph on the wall, and lets see how the kindergarten class field runs!!
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