Toyota gets 1st pole
Dave Blaney finally gave Toyota something to celebrate Friday, winning the pole for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at New Hampshire International Speedway in Louden, N.H.
It’s been a long, difficult first season in Cup for the Japanese automaker. Its teams have had trouble getting their cars qualified for races, let alone vying for poles.
But Blaney’s fast lap of 129.437 mph in his Bill Davis Racing No. 22 Camry was easily the fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300.
“The first pole for Toyota and, hopefully, that’s one step in a lot of successful days as far as poles and wins and the whole thing,” Blaney said. “I think we’ve been making some progress in getting some speed out of the cars. I think all the Toyota teams have.”
Kurt Busch, whose Penske Racing team hurriedly replaced the brakes after the 2004 Cup champion felt a vibration in his Dodge when he first drove onto the 1.058-mile New Hampshire oval, wound up second at 129.182.
Reed Sorenson was third at 128.589, followed by Johnny Sauter at 128.502. Next was rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, coming off his first Cup win last Sunday on the road course at Sonoma, at 128.411 and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 128.389.
Gordon, Johnson crystal clear
Hendrick Motorsports said it will use penalties levied against Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson and their teams as a learning experience.
“As we went through this, some of the things became more clear to us as far as what NASCAR’s tolerance on their data was,” said Doug Duchardt, the team’s vice president for development. “It wasn’t as clear to us before last Friday.”
NASCAR issued six-race suspensions for crew chiefs Steve Latarte and Chad Knaus. Each team also got $100,000 fines and 100-point deductions for body modifications found during initial inspections at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.
“I’m extremely disappointed in NASCAR and the decisions that they’ve made,” Gordon said. “But I will say we’re crystal clear going forward.”
Indy Racing League
Season points leader Dario Franchitti was a happy recipient of the top starting spot for the IndyCar Series’ seventh visit to Richmond International Raceway in Richmond, Va., after rain washed out qualifying.
“I’m pretty happy that it rained,” Franchitti said. “Today we were focusing on the car and balance issues, so we were trying to get those figured out.”
He and Andretti Green Racing teammate Tony Kanaan will start on the front row today for the SunTrust Indy Challenge.
Champ Car
Tristan Gommendy topped a big day for the French by winning the provisional pole in the qualifying session for the inaugural Champ Car Mont-Tremblant in Mont-Tremblant, Quebec.
Gommendy posted a time of 1 minute, 16.776 seconds in the fifth of his 10 laps during the session, completing the day’s fastest lap at an average speed of 122.898 mph. The 27-year-old rookie guaranteed himself a spot in the front row for Sunday’s race.