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CUP: Johnson Crushes Field With Pole Run
Written by: Tom Jensen   
11/20/2009
Homestead, FL
 
Jimmie Johnson wins the pole award after qualifying first for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Photo: Getty Images) ยป More Photos

Jimmie Johnson fired the first salvo in Ford Championship Weekend, as he claimed the pole for Sunday’s season-ending Ford 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

With the championship on the line, Johnson knocked off his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin with a lap of 173.919 miles per hour in his all-conquering No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS.

Scott Speed, the last of the 48 drivers to set a time, qualified second in his Red Bull Racing Toyota at 172.695 mph. Marcos Ambrose was third, lapping the 1.5-mile South Florida oval 172.678 mph in his No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota Camry.

Martin, who had been on the pole until Johnson went out 32nd, ended the session fourth. He was followed by Tony Stewart's Stewart-Haas Chevy.

And make no mistake, it was a statement lap by the points leader: Johnson’s pole-winning lap was nearly three-tenths of a second faster than Martin’s third-place effort. In fact, the gap between Johnson’s time and Martin’s was equal to the gap between Martin and the 27th-place qualifier, Brad Keselowski.

Johnson comes into the season-finale with a 108-point lead over Martin and needs only to finish 25th or better on Sunday to clinch his NASCAR-record fourth consecutive Sprint Cup championship.

And the three-time defending series champion left no doubt about his priorities for the weekend. “The safest place to run on the track is up front,” said Johnson. “You think of double-file restarts, the safest place to be is being the race leader, picking which lane you want to be in and set the pace coming to the green. Everything in my eyes points towards trying to win the race. That's what we're here to do.”

Martin ran a lap of 172.353 mph in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevy. The 1.5-mile
track is the only one on the Sprint Cup schedule where Hendrick is winless as a team, but Martin thinks that could change on Sunday.

“There's no reason why we can't win this weekend, why one of our cars can't win, just because we haven't before,” said Martin. “I mean, I have no concerns whatsoever about the performance of my racecar. I'm very comfortable that what we've been doing is gonna work just as well here as other places.”

“We have never won here, so that's definitely a goal that we'd like to really cap off a great year by winning this race,” added team owner Rick Hendrick. “That's something we'd really like to do. But it's going to be a great weekend. We're going to celebrate another championship. So we're just happy to be here and look forward to Sunday.”

Failing to qualify were Max Papis, Mike Skinner, Dave Blaney, David Stremme and Joe Nemechek.

FRIDAY PRACTICE FORD 400

FORD 400 QUALIFYING RESULTS

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief 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 television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association. Jensen is the 1997 National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year and has won numerous national and state awards for news reporting, columns and feature writing. 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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