CUP: Front Row Joe's Pole Shocks 'Dega Field

Sprint Cup

CUP: Front Row Joe’s Pole Shocks ‘Dega Field

“Front Row Joe” Nemechek did it again Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, putting his Chevy on the pole for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway

Tom Jensen | Posted April 26, 2008 Talladega, Ala.

Joe Nemechek took the pole for the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway. (Todd Warshaw/Getty Images Photo)

“Front Row Joe” Nemechek did it again Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway, putting his Chevy on the pole for the Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway with a lap of 187.386 miles per hour in his Furniture Row Racing entry.

Tony Stewart, the center of attention this weekend because we may be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing after next season, led most of the session with a lap of 186.896 mph, which ultimately gave him second place, a position he knows all too well here. Stewart has six runner-up finishes at Talladega, but no victories.

Qualifying behind Stewart was Ken Schrader in his first race with Haas-CNC Racing, running 186.499 mph. The came the Red Bull Racing Toyota of AJ Allmendinger, who ran 186.423 mph in his first race back after being sat down in favor of Mike Skinner for the past five races.

Stewart’s teammate, Kyle Busch, was fifth-fastest in his JGR Toyota, which had a best lap of 186.416 mph.

David Ragan was the first non-Toyota driver, placing his Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion in sixth at 186.304 mph. Then came the third JGR Toyota, with Denny Hamlin turning a lap of 186.300 mph.

Completing the top 10 were Vickers in a second Red Bull Toyota and the Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolets of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.

Stewart said Sunday’s race might be a case where the leaders simply run at the back for 400 miles to avoid a big multi-car crash and then crank it up at the end. And that is not something he’s looking forward to.

“It’s definitely smart because you don’t crash and you don’t have the ‘big one’, but if that’s the case and that’s what we’re going to do then why are we racing 500 miles?” Stewart wondered. “Why don’t we make it a 200-mile race to where from the time they drop the green flag to the time they drop the checkered, we actually race?”

And that, Stewart said, is no fun for the fans and no fun for the drivers, either. “For us to sit there and line up and run 40, 50, 60 laps, you figure up how many miles that is and it’s over 100 miles where we’re just wasting time here,” he said. “The fans are sitting there wondering when we’re going to start racing again. We could save ourselves and hour of nothing more than just riding around, burning fuel and putting time on engines and stuff that we don’t need to be doing.”

Among the go or go home cars, Nemechek, Allmendinger, Schrader, Jon Wood, Sterling Marlin, Kyle Petty, Patrick Carpentier, Dario Franchitti and all raced their way into the field.

Failing to qualify were John Andretti, J.J. Yeley and Dave Blaney.

AARON’S 499 QUALIFYING RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association. The Answer Man is back at SPEEDtv.com. Tom Jensen answers your questions during every race week and looks forward to hearing from you - please e-mail it to

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