Dale Earnhardt, Jr. poses with the Coors Light Pole Award after qualifying for the pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Kentucky Speedway. Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
Don’t tell Dale Earnhardt Jr. you can’t catch a cloud.
With a fast car and a fortuitous mass of cumulus to help cool Kentucky Speedway during Friday’s time trials, Earnhardt put together a track-record pole-winning run for Saturday night’s Quaker State 400, the 17th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event of the season. It was the eighth track qualifying record set this year.
Earnhardt sped around the 1.5-mile track at 183.636 mph to edge Carl Edwards (183.306 mph) who was one slight twitch off turn 2 away from challenging for the top starting spot. Jimmie Johnson (183.144 mph) qualified third, followed by 2011 Kentucky winner Kyle Busch (182.593 mph) and Marcos Ambrose (182.587 mph).
The Coors Light Pole award was the 12th of Earnhardt’s career, his first at Kentucky and his first since September 2012 at Richmond.
“We thought we had a top-five car in practice, and we got some good cloud cover about six or seven cars in front of us before we went to qualify, and that brought the track temp down to give us a good advantage,” Earnhardt said. “It gave us a good opportunity to run a bit quicker lap than maybe what the car had in it. …
“Of course, cooler track temp gives a car more grip, and I would admit that I think we definitely had the better situation. … And I did think the lap was really good. I got into Turn 1 a little bit over-zealous, but the car actually was working a little better as far as turning through the middle than it was in practice. (turns) 3 and 4 was just a really good corner.”
Early in the session, Johnson shot to the top of the board with a lap at 183.144 mph, breaking the record 181.818 mph he set during time trials last year. But the five-time champion’s tenure at the top of the mountain was short.
With a helpful cloud covering a track that already was cooling as the ambient temperature declined, Earnhardt covered the 1.5-mile distance in 29.406 seconds and knocked his Hendrick Motorsports teammate off the provisional pole.
Edwards, the 34th driver to make a qualifying attempt, ran .006 seconds faster than Johnson to break up the Hendrick front row.
Denny Hamlin, Ryan Newman, 2012 race winner Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers and Juan Pablo Montoya will start from positions six through 10, respectively.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Kentucky Speedway – Sparta, KY
Quaker State 400 Qualifying – June 28, 2013
1. 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 29.406 183.636
2. 99 Carl Edwards 29.459 183.306
3. 48 Jimmie Johnson 29.485 183.144
4. 18 Kyle Busch 29.574 182.593
5. 9 Marcos Ambrose 29.575 182.587
6. 11 Denny Hamlin 29.615 182.340
7. 39 Ryan Newman 29.629 182.254
8. 2 Brad Keselowski 29.639 182.192
9. 55 Brian Vickers 29.683 181.922
10. 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 29.716 181.720
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12. 24 Jeff Gordon 29.727 181.653
13. 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 29.770 181.391
14. 31 Jeff Burton 29.775 181.360
15. 15 Clint Bowyer 29.808 181.159
16. 20 Matt Kenseth 29.816 181.111
17. 47 AJ Allmendinger 29.852 180.892
18. 43 Aric Almirola 29.856 180.868
19. 56 Martin Truex Jr. 29.862 180.832
20. 16 Greg Biffle 29.873 180.765
21. 5 Kasey Kahne 29.894 180.638
22. 29 Kevin Harvick 29.904 180.578
23. 1 Jamie McMurray 29.926 180.445
24. 27 Paul Menard 30.005 179.970
25. 14 Tony Stewart 30.006 179.964
26. 51 Austin Dillon 30.033 179.802
27. 78 Kurt Busch 30.102 179.390
28. 30 David Stremme 30.155 179.075
29. 10 Danica Patrick 30.177 178.944
30. 33 Landon Cassill 30.292 178.265
31. 13 Casey Mears 30.297 178.235
32. 7 Dave Blaney 30.340 177.983
33. 98 Michael McDowell 30.386 177.713
34. 38 David Gilliland 30.425 177.486
35. 36 JJ Yeley 30.571 176.638
36. 83 David Reutimann 30.597 176.488
37. 35 Josh Wise Owner Points
38. 34 David Ragan Owner Points
39. 19 Mike Bliss Owner Points
40. 93 Travis Kvapil Owner Points
41. 87 Joe Nemechek Owner Points
42. 32 Ken Schrader Owner Points
43. 44 Scott Riggs 30.832 175.143
Did Not Qualify: None
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