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Unbelieva-Bull: Brian Vickers wins pole, Scott Speed fails to qualify
By Jeff Gluck - Associate Editor
Friday, June 19, 2009
Red Bull Racing's Brian Vickers celebrates his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole Friday at Infineon Raceway.
David Griffin
NASCAR Scene
SONOMA, Calif. – Red Bull Racing was the story of the day in qualifying for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at the winding Infineon Raceway road course – for reasons both good and bad.
Red Bull’s Brian Vickers was the positive angle, shockingly winning the pole for what will be his first career top-15 starting spot at a road course.
“The biggest thing for me was just not making any mistakes,” he said. “We had a really good car, and I just didn’t want to mess it up.”
Vickers has never finished in the top 10 at Sonoma, but he somehow put together a near-perfect lap to win the top spot with speed lap of 93.678 mph, just ahead of Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch (93.415) and JTG Daugherty Racing’s Marcos Ambrose.
“It hasn’t been my best track, but I do enjoy coming here,” Vickers said.
Stewart-Haas Racing’s Tony Stewart and Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne also had strong efforts to round out the top five, followed by Martin Truex Jr. (Earnhardt Ganassi Racing), Ryan Newman (Stewart-Haas), Elliott Sadler (Petty), Boris Said (EM Motorsports) and Roush Fenway Racing’s Matt Kenseth.
It was only the second time Toyota has qualified 1-2-3 (the other being October 2007 at Talladega), but the news was not as good Vickers’ Red Bull teammate Scott Speed.
Speed, a Northern California native and road-course specialist who expected to have dozens of friends and family in attendance for Sunday’s race, went off course after exiting Turn 10 and failed to qualify. It was unclear whether Red Bull would try to secure another team’s car for Speed to drive on Sunday.
Chris Cook – a driving instructor for a racing school at Infineon – also missed the race in his Front Row Motorsports car, along with Tom Hubert (Kirk Shelmerdine Racing) and Tommy Baldwin Racing’s Brian Simo.
Fan favorite Said was the fastest of the go-or-go-home drivers and made the show, along with Prism Motorsports’ Dave Blaney, Phoenix Racing’s Ron Fellows, Nemco Motorsports’ Joe Nemechek, TRG Motorsports’ David Gilliland, Germain Racing’s Max Papis, Robby Gordon Motorsports’ P.J. Jones and Brandon Ash Racing’s Brandon Ash.
Mentioned Drivers: Brian Vickers
2009 Sprint Cup Race for the Chase Standings
Driver Standings after the AMP Energy 500
| 1 | Jimmie Johnson | 6248 |
| 2 | Mark Martin | -184 |
| 3 | Jeff Gordon | -192 |
| 4 | Juan Pablo Montoya | -239 |
| 5 | Tony Stewart | -279 |
| 6 | Kurt Busch | -312 |
| 7 | Greg Biffle | -340 |
| 8 | Ryan Newman | -402 |
| 9 | Kasey Kahne | -414 |
| 10 | Carl Edwards | -437 |
| 11 | Denny Hamlin | -448 |
| 12 | Brian Vickers | -556 |
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Comments
11 responses to "Unbelieva-Bull: Brian Vickers wins pole, Scott Speed fails to qualify". Post a Comment.
NickDizzle7 said:
Jun 19, 2009 at 8:54 PMPsh, It was Scott Speed's fault he missed the show. Am I dissipointed that he gave up such a great lap? Yes. Should he buy his way into another race like he did at Darlington? Nope. Take your loss and go home. Keep your guard up Joe Nemechek or Dave Blaney. You both deserve to race.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportNickDizzle7 said:
Jun 19, 2009 at 9:57 PMToo Late, Speed's in Nemechek's car on Sunday. I guess money talks in NA$CAR.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmotorsportsphotography said:
Jun 19, 2009 at 10:59 PMToyota one and two. Not Bad.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportducktape said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 6:51 AMCongrats Brian green green green mash the gas and good luck with the double file restarts
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» Confirm Abuse Reportdale-jr-is-the-greatest-driver-alive said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 9:36 AMawsome brian now when you come to chevy you can actually finish a race and not worry about your engine quitting plus youd still be running up front
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» Confirm Abuse Reportmbolton4 said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 1:44 PMI have a question for anybody. NASCAR.com lists the #82 at 35th in the standings. Why did he have to qualify on time? Just curious.
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» Confirm Abuse ReportWerner said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 3:27 PM#6...Speed is 35th in driver points...in owner points they are 36th...NASCAR goes by owner points for qualifying...
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» Confirm Abuse ReportPhoenix987 said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 3:37 PMHe's 36th in owner's points, but 35th in driver's points. John Andretti missed a few races preparing for the Indy 500, but his team still raced and gained owner's points while he didn't gain driver's points.
Report as AbuseHe had to qualify on time because he WASN'T top 35. You have to look at owner's points, not driver's points.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbhstoneman said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 3:47 PMI'm sorry Joe had to give up his ride for Speed. We all know Nemechek races on a mighty slim budget, so I'm sure he needed the money, but I surely don't have a lot of respect for Scott Speed.
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbodhiwan said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 7:32 PMWhy rag on Speed. His team tells him he is now driving Joe's car so he drives it. Any other driver in NASCAR would do the same!
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» Confirm Abuse Reportbodhiwan said:
Jun 20, 2009 at 7:39 PMWhy rag on Speed. His team tells him he is now driving Joe's car so he does. Any other driver in NASCAR would do the same!
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