Nemechek steals Talladega pole from Stewart

It’s been all about Tony Stewart at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, where he’s planted himself inside the spotlight by entering free agency.

He’s backed up the high level of interest being shown in NASCAR’s two-time champion with strong runs on the race track, including a stout qualifying lap Saturday that seemed to lock down the pole position.

Some three hours later, Joe Nemechek stole his thunder.

Nemechek, the 46th of 47 drivers to make a qualifying attempt, knocked Stewart off the pole with a lap of 187.386 mph. It was the first pole since 2005, a span of 93 races, for “Front Row Joe,” and was his fourth career pole at Talladega – best among active drivers.

Nemechek credited his Furniture Row Racing team, a single-car operation based out of Denver that prepared a car that had to qualify on speed to make today’s race. Nemechek is ranked 42nd in the points, and has missed two of eight races this season.

“It takes a lot of work and a lot of innovative thinking to get your cars to go fast, and to get them through the air,” Nemechek said. “And it’s paying attention to all the details. The cool thing about us is we’re just a small team.”

Stewart, a six-time runner-up at Talladega, had to settle for the second starting spot. He was the seventh driver to make his lap, and his 186.896 held almost the entire session. He’s qualified inside the top 10 in eight of his 19 Talladega starts, but is still searching for his first win at the track.

Talladega is one of four tracks where Stewart has yet to score a win.

“It is important to me,” Stewart said. “We’ve run second here six times in nine years, so a third of the races here I’ve run second. I’m ready to get one more spot finally.”

Ken Schrader, the final driver to make his qualifying attempt, grabbed the third spot.

AJ Allmendinger will start fourth in his season debut. He failed to qualify his Red Bull Racing car for the first three races of the year, and the team replaced him with Mike Skinner for the next five events.

Nationwide Series

Tony Stewart held off Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s last-lap charge to win the Nationwide Series race for his first career victory at Talladega Superspeedway.

Stewart started from the pole and sat comfortably out front with Earnhardt on his rear bumper just biding his time to make a move. Caution came out with five laps to go for debris, setting up a two-lap sprint to the finish.

Dario Franchitti broke his ankle in a hard crash during the race that sent Franchitti and another racer, Larry Gunselman, to a hospital.

Craftsman Trucks

Rick Ren figured he needed 5 more seconds of fuel or 11 caution laps. Without it, he calculated Ron Hornaday Jr. would run out of gas with about a half-lap left.

Then came an accident. Three caution laps down. A spin out, three more caution laps. By the time Dennis Setzer slammed into the wall on Turn 4, Ren figured he had it made.

Ren’s fuel gamble with 59 laps paid off thanks to five of the record 12 cautions at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., helping Hornaday win the wreck-filled O’Reilly Auto Parts 250 Craftsman Truck race.

IndyCar

Less than a week past her historic first IndyCar victory, Danica Patrick put away her smile and went back to work on the racetrack, qualifying third for the IRL race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

Target Chip Ganassi teammates Scott Dixon and Dan Wheldon swept the front row in qualifying on the 1.5-mile oval, but Patrick was again the focal point as she backed up her big day last week in Japan with a solid run.

“We arrived here with a good car and we had a good run here today,” said Patrick, who had her game face back on after a week of celebrating her first win in 50 IndyCar Series starts. “The car is really well-balanced.

“Hopefully, we can get out in front of the red and white (Target) cars.”

Dixon, who won from the pole in the season opener last month at Homestead-Miami Speedway and finished third in Japan, took the top spot early in qualifying with an average of 213.956 mph.

Patrick nearly knocked the New Zealander off the top spot with her consistent run of 213.225, but she was bumped back to the second row by Wheldon. His average was 213.641.

Formula One

Kimi Raikkonen of Ferrari edged Renault’s Fernando Alonso to take pole position for today’s Spanish Grand Prix at Barcelona.