Denny Hamlin poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Toyota has never won a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, but Denny Hamlin took a first step toward a breakthrough victory for the manufacturer with a decisive pole run on Saturday afternoon.
The 27th driver to make a qualifying run, Hamlin put down a lap no one could touch, touring the vaunted Brickyard in 49.244 seconds (182.763 mph) to collect his first Coors Light pole award at Indy, his second of the season and the 11th of his career.
Hamlin will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Crown Royal 400 in his No. 11 Toyota.
In his first competitive outing with new crew chief Chad Norris, Carl Edwards qualified second at 181.984 mph. Third was Joey Logano (181.756 mph), Hamlin’s teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing.
Aric Almirola (181.679 mph) will start fourth, followed by Greg Biffle (181.532 mph), as two Toyotas and three Fords comprised the top five, threatening to end Chevrolet’s nine-year dominance at the 2.5-mile speedway.
Hamlin certainly thinks he has a strong chance to do just that. Short of calling his shot a la Babe Ruth, Hamlin exuded confidence in his post-race press conference.
“I think, if you put me out front on the last run, no one’s going to get around me,” Hamlin said. “So it’s all going to be about maintaining track position and maintaining the balance of your race car. I’ve been good here before and not been able to pass.
“There’s always been about two cars, in every single race here, that’s been capable of passing. Everyone else just kind of runs where they’re at. All you can do is hope that you’ve got a fast enough car to be one of those two, where, if you do get set back, you can be one of the cars that can get back to the front.
“One thing about it is having the No. 1 pit stall now (the inevitable choice of the pole winner). That’s going to be an advantage on pit road. I think it’s hard to point to the outfield right now, but we’ve got the bat halfway raised.”
Dale Earnhardt Jr., second in the Cup standings, will start 20th, 10 spots behind Kenseth, the driver he is chasing for the series lead.
“We didn’t have a good race car in qualifying trim, and it showed today,” Earnhardt said. “But we have a good car in race trim, and we’ll race good.”
Michael McDowell, Reed Sorenson and Joe Nemechek failed to make the 43-car field. Nemechek had competed in 17 of 18 Cup races at the Brickyard, failing to qualify only in 2007. McDowell was fast enough to make the field on speed, but his time was disallowed after post-qualifying inspection because the nitrogen gas in the rear shocks exceeded the allowable pressure.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway – Indianapolis, IN
Brickyard 400 Qualifying – July 28, 2012
1 11 Denny Hamlin 49.244 182.763
2 99 Carl Edwards 49.455 181.984
3 20 Joey Logano 49.517 181.756
4 43 Aric Almirola 49.538 181.679
5 16 Greg Biffle 49.578 181.532
6 48 Jimmie Johnson 49.626 181.357
7 18 Kyle Busch 49.711 181.046
8 27 Paul Menard 49.720 181.014
It also offers generic drugs and herbal pills. Sometimes the effect of this drug is completely safe for consumption and the same shall do no side effect whatsoever. Lycopodium: It has pain in the pit of stomach when the hypochondria are pressed and pain in hypochondria when the pit of stomach is pressed. You will get details of your order and thus will get the cheap and better performing viagra for your need. 9 24 Jeff Gordon 49.737 180.952
10 17 Matt Kenseth 49.819 180.654
11 39 Ryan Newman 49.831 180.610
12 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 49.857 180.516
13 51 Kurt Busch 49.865 180.487
14 78 Regan Smith 49.869 180.473
15 5 Kasey Kahne 49.876 180.448
16 1 Jamie McMurray 49.879 180.437
17 56 Martin Truex Jr. 49.880 180.433
18 21 Trevor Bayne 49.892 180.390
19 55 Mark Martin 49.893 180.386
20 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 49.932 180.245
21 31 Jeff Burton 49.951 180.177
22 2 Brad Keselowski 49.959 180.148
23 9 Marcos Ambrose 49.980 180.072
24 22 Sam Hornish Jr. 50.020 179.928
25 13 Casey Mears 50.134 179.519
26 30 David Stremme 50.220 179.211
27 29 Kevin Harvick 50.309 178.894
28 14 Tony Stewart 50.318 178.862
29 47 Bobby Labonte 50.331 178.816
30 93 Travis Kvapil 50.408 178.543
31 38 David Gilliland 50.418 178.508
32 36 Dave Blaney 50.424 178.486
33 15 Clint Bowyer 50.443 178.419
34 95 Scott Speed 50.603 177.855
35 26 Josh Wise 50.635 177.743
36 34 David Ragan 50.667 177.630
37 33 Stephen Leicht 50.748 177.347
38 83 Landon Cassill 50.750 177.340
39 79 Mike Skinner 50.878 176.894
40 23 Scott Riggs 50.888 176.859
41 10 JJ Yeley 50.985 176.523
42 32 Ken Schrader Owner Points
43 19 Mike Bliss 51.084 176.180
Did Not Qualify: Reed Sorenson, Joe Nemechek, Michael McDowell
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