NNS: Allgaier On Pole At Gateway

Nationwide

NNS: Allgaier On Pole At Gateway

Justin Allgaier earned his third career NNS pole Saturday...

Tom Jensen | Posted October 23, 2010 Madison, IL

Justin Allgaier will start from the poleNASCAR Nationwide Series Gateway 250 at Gateway International Raceway> (Photo: LAT Photographic)

Justin Allgaier captured the pole for this afternoon’s 5-Hour Energy 250, the final NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Gateway International Raceway.

Allgaier, who is still looking for a sponsor for next season, put the No. 12 Penske Racing Dodge on top of the speed chart at the 1.25-mile oval with a lap of 135.131 miles per hour. The pole was the second of the season and third of his career for Allgaier.

He will be flanked on the outside of Row 1 by the No. 98 Roush Fenway Ford of Colin Braun, who qualified at 135.082 mph.

Starting on Row 2 will be Matt Dibenedetto in the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, 135.054 mph, and Mike Bliss in the No. 33 Kevin Harvick Inc. Chevrolet, 134.630 mph.

Row 3 will be Sean Caisse in the No. 39 Go Green Racing Ford and Josh Wise in the No. 88 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. Competing the top 10 were Steve Wallace., Trevor Bayne, Brad Sweet and Reed Sorenson.

In his first Nationwide start, Brandon McReynolds qualified 25th, while Danica Patrick was 42nd.

Today’s race is No. 32 of 35 on the 2010 Nationwide schedule. It is also the last stand-alone Nationwide race of the season, as the final three races at Texas, Phoenix and Miami will all be companion events with the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Keselowski leads Edwards by 450 points. If Keselowski leaves today’s race with a lead of greater than 575 points, he will clinch his first NNS championship and the first NASCAR title of any kind for team owner Roger Penkse.

Penske first fielded a NASCAR team in 1972, when Mark Donohue raced an AMC Matador in what’s now known as the Sprint Cup Series on the long-defunct Riverside International Raceway course in Southern California.

This will be the final NASCAR race at Gateway for the near future, as the track did not apply to host any NASCAR events next season.

Tom Jensen is the Editor in Chief of SPEED.com, Senior NASCAR Editor at RACER and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. You can follow him online at twitter.com/tomjensen100 and e-mail him at Jensen 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. Jensen is the past President of the National Motorsports Press Association and an NMPA Writer of the Year.

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