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Sprint Cup
CUP: Gordon Wins Talladega Pole
Jeff Gordon outruns AJ Allmendinger to earn first starting spot for Aaron’s 499…
Jeff Gordon won his first Sprint Cup pole in a year Saturday, claiming the No. 1 starting position for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499 at Talladega Superspeedway.
Gordon turned a lap at 191.623 miles per hour to win the 71st pole of his career. His last pole came for this race last season.
Gordon had the only sub-50-second lap in the 44-car field.
“I did not expect that good of a lap,” Gordon said. “I knew we were going to be a threat. That’s pretty sporty.”
Following in the top five were AJ Allmendinger (who led most of the session), Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne.
In the second 10 were point leader Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth.
Gordon’s first pole of 2012 extended his streak of winning at least one pole per season to 20 years, tying him with retired driver David Pearson for the longest streak all-time. His first pole came at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1993.
Allmendinger, who went out 19th, put up a strong lap – 191.111 – and stayed on top for most of the session. Gordon was the 41st of 44 drivers to attempt to qualify.
Gordon said he took a new approach to turning his two qualifying laps with the idea of trying to keep his engine cooler.
“Every time we come to Talladega, we’re trying to cool the system down,” he said. “We’re trying to manage the temperatures, and that’s from the first moment on the track yesterday (Friday) to the end of the race tomorrow.”
Gordon hasn’t won this season and sits 17th in points nine races into the schedule.
“The biggest positive [to winning the pole] is that we’ve had a rough start to the season,” he said. “Not a lot has gone our way. We’ve had fast race cars but not a lot to show for it. Right now we’ll take any kind of positive boost.”
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.
Gordon turned a lap at 191.623 miles per hour to win the 71st pole of his career. His last pole came for this race last season.
Gordon had the only sub-50-second lap in the 44-car field.
“I did not expect that good of a lap,” Gordon said. “I knew we were going to be a threat. That’s pretty sporty.”
Following in the top five were AJ Allmendinger (who led most of the session), Marcos Ambrose, Aric Almirola and Kasey Kahne.
In the second 10 were point leader Greg Biffle, Carl Edwards, Tony Stewart, Michael Waltrip and Matt Kenseth.
Gordon’s first pole of 2012 extended his streak of winning at least one pole per season to 20 years, tying him with retired driver David Pearson for the longest streak all-time. His first pole came at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1993.
Allmendinger, who went out 19th, put up a strong lap – 191.111 – and stayed on top for most of the session. Gordon was the 41st of 44 drivers to attempt to qualify.
Gordon said he took a new approach to turning his two qualifying laps with the idea of trying to keep his engine cooler.
“Every time we come to Talladega, we’re trying to cool the system down,” he said. “We’re trying to manage the temperatures, and that’s from the first moment on the track yesterday (Friday) to the end of the race tomorrow.”
Gordon hasn’t won this season and sits 17th in points nine races into the schedule.
“The biggest positive [to winning the pole] is that we’ve had a rough start to the season,” he said. “Not a lot has gone our way. We’ve had fast race cars but not a lot to show for it. Right now we’ll take any kind of positive boost.”
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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