Earnhardt Jr. wins pole at Samsung 500
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is the third Hendrick driver to earn a pole this season. Now maybe he can be the first to win a race.
Earnhardt, the Hendrick newcomer and the team’s most consistent finisher with four consecutive top 10s, ran a fast lap of 190.907 mph Friday at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, to earn the pole for the Samsung 500. It is his first pole in 22 races, since Pocono in August.
“The car handled really good,” Earnhardt said. “The car is as good and as comfortable. … It could be a good weekend for us.”
The qualifying run came on the 10th anniversary of Earnhardt’s first NASCAR victory, a Nationwide race at Texas. Earnhardt also got his first Sprint Cup victory at the 1 1/2-mile high-banked track in 2000.
Starting beside Earnhardt’s No. 88 Chevrolet on the front row will be Carl Edwards, who ran a lap of 189.487 in his Ford. It is the first time Edwards, the only driver with two Cup victories this season, has started better than 10th at Texas, where he won the 2005 fall race.
Kyle Busch will start third, followed by Ryan Newman and Jimmie Johnson. Points leader Jeff Burton qualified 35th.
Qualifying was stopped for more than an hour after rookie driver Michael McDowell was involved in a horrific tumbling crash. McDowell walked away nearly unscathed, but track officials had to make temporary repairs to the SAFER (Steel and Foam Energy Reduction) barrier that McDowell hit.
McDowell was going into the first turn of his second lap when his No. 00 Toyota got loose, then slammed almost headfirst into the barrier. The car ricocheted off the wall and onto its roof, then rolled eight times before finally coming to rest at the bottom of the high-banked track.
A Hendrick driver has won the pole at four of the five tracks where qualifying hasn’t been rained out. But Hendrick, which won 18 races last season, is still looking for its first victory this year and Earnhardt has a personal 68-race winless streak.
Formula One
Lewis Hamilton crashed his McLaren car while Ferrari dominated the practice session for the Bahrain Grand Prix at Sakhir, Bahrain.
Hamilton withdrew from the afternoon practice session after losing control while coming around the sixth corner, veering off the track and sliding sideways into the protective tires. Hamilton’s front wheel was snapped, while pieces of his car – including a side mirror – lay strewn in the sand. Hamilton emerged unhurt from the crash.
Ferrari quickly re-established itself as the team to beat following a disappointing start to the F1 season. Felipe Massa outpaced teammate Kimi Raikkonen to take both sessions.
The Brazilian driver followed up a best time of 1 minute, 32.233 seconds with 1:31.420.
•Formula One chief executive Bernie Ecclestone tried to distance his organization from Max Mosley and a growing list of motor sports figures pushed for the FIA president to step down amid a sex scandal.
“This is a FIA thing, this has nothing to do with anyone else,” Ecclestone said.