Jeff Gordon poses in victory lane after qualifying for the NASCAR Sprint Cup pole at New Hampshire Motor Speedway Friday. Photo by Rainier Ehrhardt/Getty Images
Jeff Gordon took a giant step forward on Friday afternoon, while Denny Hamlin found unexpected trouble during qualifying for Sunday’s Sylvania 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
Touring the Magic Mile in 28.232 seconds (134.911 mph), Gordon won the pole for the second Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup race, edging Kyle Busch (134.793 mph) for the top starting spot. The Coors Light Pole Award was Gordon’s second of the season and the 72nd of his career, third-most all-time.
Defending Cup champion Tony Stewart (134.568 mph) qualified third, followed by non-Chase drivers Brian Vickers (134.482 mph) and Carl Edwards (134.354 mph).
Gordon’s Chase prospects suffered a major blow last Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway, when the throttle of his No. 24 Chevrolet stuck and sent him hard into the turn 1 wall, resulting in a 35th-place finish.
Gordon fell to 12th in the championship standings — last among eligible drivers — 47 points behind leader and race winner Brad Keselowski and 21 back of 11th-place Matt Kenseth.
On Friday afternoon, however, Gordon started a rally with his fourth pole in 36 starts at the Magic Mile.
“I think we surprised ourselves a little bit with that pole,” Gordon said. “This is something we didn’t expect. I think we expected to be strong in the race, but for qualifying, we haven’t sat on the pole at a non-restricted track for quite some time, so this was a big one — and certainly good timing.”
In fact, the pole was Gordon’s first at a non-restrictor-plate speedway since he qualified first at Charlotte in October 2010.
Hamlin, who is tied for fourth in the standings and 15 points behind Keselowski, predicted victory at New Hampshire after running out of fuel and finishing 16th at Chicagoland. Fastest in Friday’s practice session, Hamlin appeared to be arcing toward that goal — until his qualifying attempt.
Because his team failed to change his tire pressure to the qualifying setup, the driver of the No. 11 Toyota floundered to 32nd in the time trials. Only once in the past 25 races at Loudon has a driver qualified 32nd or worse and come back to win the race (Kurt Busch won from 32nd on the grid in 2004).
“I knew something was wrong,” Hamlin said after his run. “We ended up having race pressures, and we didn’t put our qualifying pressures in, so that was a tough one. I knew something was really, really wrong, because we were just — the car was bobbing down real bad — but simple mistake.
“We’ll rebound from it. We’re quick enough.”
In addition to Gordon, Stewart and Hamlin, other Chase drivers qualified as follows: Kasey Kahne, sixth; Martin Truex Jr., ninth; Clint Bowyer, 12th; Greg Biffle, 13th; Dale Earnhardt Jr., 14th; Keselowski, 15th; Kevin Harvick, 16th; Jimmie Johnson, 20th; and Matt Kenseth, 25th.
Scott Riggs, Jason Leffler and Jeff Green failed to make the 43-car field. Though his car was fast enough to qualify, Josh Wise had his time disallowed because of excessive gas pressure in his shocks.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
New Hampshire Motor Speedway – Loudon, NH
Sylvania 300 Qualifying – Sept. 21, 2012
1 24 Jeff Gordon 28.232 134.911
2 18 Kyle Busch 28.265 134.753
3 14 Tony Stewart 28.304 134.568
4 55 Brian Vickers 28.322 134.482
5 99 Carl Edwards 28.349 134.354
6 5 Kasey Kahne 28.386 134.179
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8 39 Ryan Newman 28.438 133.933
9 56 Martin Truex Jr. 28.451 133.872
10 22 Dave Blaney 28.453 133.863
11 31 Jeff Burton 28.455 133.853
12 15 Clint Bowyer 28.461 133.825
13 16 Greg Biffle 28.499 133.647
14 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 28.501 133.637
15 2 Brad Keselowski 28.506 133.614
16 29 Kevin Harvick 28.509 133.600
17 47 Bobby Labonte 28.516 133.567
18 20 Joey Logano 28.521 133.544
19 43 Aric Almirola 28.573 133.301
20 48 Jimmie Johnson 28.610 133.128
21 9 Marcos Ambrose 28.614 133.110
22 78 Regan Smith 28.633 133.021
23 51 Kurt Busch 28.645 132.966
24 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 28.670 132.850
25 17 Matt Kenseth 28.681 132.799
26 34 David Ragan 28.698 132.720
27 95 Scott Speed 28.725 132.595
28 83 Landon Cassill 28.733 132.558
29 1 Jamie McMurray 28.777 132.356
30 13 Casey Mears 28.812 132.195
31 98 Michael McDowell 28.870 131.929
32 11 Denny Hamlin 28.935 131.633
33 93 Travis Kvapil 28.977 131.442
34 10 David Reutimann 29.035 131.180
35 91 Reed Sorenson 29.083 130.963
36 87 Joe Nemechek 29.111 130.837
37 38 David Gilliland 29.121 130.792
38 79 Kelly Bires 29.155 130.640
39 33 Stephen Leicht 29.216 130.367
40 37 JJ Yeley 29.247 130.229
41 36 Tony Raines Owner Points
42 32 Mike Olsen Owner Points
43 30 David Stremme 29.325 129.882
Did Not Qualify: Scott Riggs, Jason Leffler, Jeff Green, Josh Wise
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