CUP: Almirola Wins Charlotte Pole

Sprint Cup

CUP: Almirola Wins Charlotte Pole

Aric Almirola outruns teammate Marcos Ambrose to win Coca-Cola 600 pole...

Mike Hembree | Posted May 24, 2012 Concord, NC

Thursday night was a Richard Petty sort of night at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Richard Petty Motorsports driver Aric Almirola scored his first career pole in qualifying for Sunday’s Coca-Cola 600, and Almirola’s teammate, Marcos Ambrose, rolled in second to give RPM a sweep of the front row.

Almirola turned in a blistering lap of 192.940 miles per hour to bump Jimmie Johnson from the provisional pole and then waited through the final few drivers in the session. Ambrose was the last qualifier, and he fell short of Almirola’s run, clocking in at 191.598.

Johnson was third and was followed by series point leader Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.

In the second five were Mark Martin, Kasey Kahne, Denny Hamlin, Paul Menard and Regan Smith.

The RPM drivers are winless. Ambrose is 18th in points, and Almirola, in his third race with new crew chief Mike Ford, is 21st.

“We struggled last week at Darlington, and we went with something totally different – we stepped off the island, and it paid off,” Almirola said.

Ambrose called it “a great day for Richard Petty and Richard Petty Motorsports. We’re a two-car team trying to make it against bigger teams. It was a great night for us.

“I was happy with my lap. It just wasn’t quite enough to catch the 43 (Almirola). It could have been better, but it doesn’t count. We had a good run, just not good enough.”

The pole was the first for RPM since Elliott Sadler scored at Texas in 2010.

“It’s been a huge honor for me from day one to be able to come to this organization and drive the 43 car,” Almirola said. “It’s probably the most iconic car in the history of our sport.

“It’s a huge honor to be able to put that 43 car back on the board and see it in victory lane (for the pole win). I know it’s only qualifying, and we want to be able to do that after a race, but it’s a start.”

The pole was the first one for the 43 car at the 600 since Petty won the pole himself in 1966.

“Even though it’s just qualifying, it’s still a big deal for us,” Petty said. “We’ve got bragging rights for a couple of days anyway.

“I think by the time we got to the Chase we’ll be able to win races day in and day out.”

Ford, who said he’s still working his way into managing the team that he joined several weeks ago, said RPM “has been beat down and gone through some tough times. But they’re putting the dots together and looking to compete. That’s the business we’re in. These guys executed the plan that was put out. We’re looking forward to Sunday.”

Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 30 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.

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Mike Hembree

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