Juan Pablo Montoya contines to pace field, wins pole for Brickyard 400
Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson will start from the front row in tomorrow's Brickyard 400.
// Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Illustrated
INDIANAPOLIS – Juan Pablo Montoya, who paced both practice sessions on Friday, continued to be the pacesetter for NASCAR’s Sprint Cup Series this weekend, winning the pole for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
His speed of 182.178 mph earned the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing driver his fourth career pole and his second of the 2010 season. It also was his third qualifying run of second or better in four attempts here on the 2.5-mile track.
Montoya qualified second last season, led 116 laps of the race, but saw his shot at a Brickyard win go by the boards when he was flagged for speeding on pit road.
“It was a good lap … I think in [Turn] 2 the car got a little tight, then free coming off,” Montoya said. “Everywhere else was pretty good.”
Defending race and series champion Jimmie Johnson (Hendrick Motorsports) was second fastest at 182.142 mph on a hot, humid day.
Hendrick teammate Mark Martin was third, Jamie McMurray (EGR) fourth and Ryan Newman (Stewart-Haas Racing) completed the top five.
“You know ... we are first and fourth and our biggest threat was the 48 and he is right there," Montoya said. "There is still a long way to go. It's still Saturday and we still have got to run tomorrow; I think we just have to be smart and give ourselves a chance to try to win it.”
Unlike Montoya, who went out seventh, and Johnson, ninth on the track, Martin and Newman were among those that went out much later in the session when the track had become much hotter.
“I tried to get maybe a little more than I should have in Turn 4,” Martin said of his lap. “But at the end, that probably didn’t hurt me.
“It’s really great to see that my race team has been so determined, so dug in for several weeks, a couple of months of digging to try and fight our way back.
“It’s been nice to see the progress we’ve been able to make with the race car.”
Martin is 14th in points, 37 out of the top 12.
Qualifying on speed were Bill Elliott (Wood Brothers Racing), Joe Nemechek (Nemco Motorsports), Max Papis (Germain Racing), Bobby Labonte (Phoenix Racing), Michael McDowell (Prism Motorsports), Todd Bodine (Gunselman Motorsports), Dave Blaney (Prism) and Jacques Villeneuve (Braun Racing).
Those failing to make the 43-car field were: David Gilliland (Front Row Motorsports), Casey Mears (Tommy Baldwin Racing), David Stremme (Latitude 43 Motorsports) and J.J. Yeley (Whitney Motorsports).
