Friday, August 01, 2014

Larson's Record Run Earns Pocono Pole

Rookie Kyle Larson claimed the first pole of his NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career Friday, setting a new Pocono Raceway track record in 49.063 seconds (183.438 mph) to claim the pole in the GoBowling.com 400.

The pole came in Larson’s 25th career Sprint Cup start, making him the 13th different pole winner this season. The Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates driver started first at Richmond International Raceway earlier this season after turning the fastest practice lap when qualifying was canceled by rain. Larson’s fast lap was the 15th track of the season in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.

Joey Logano qualified second – his sixth front row start of 2014 – and has now made the final round in 17 of the 18 qualifying sessions this season.  His Team Penske teammate, Brad Keselowski, qualified third, followed by Kurt Busch and point leader Jeff Gordon.

POS       Car          Driver
1                42            Kyle Larson #
2               22            Joey Logano
3                2               Brad Keselowski
4               41             Kurt Busch
5               24            Jeff Gordon
6               4               Kevin Harvick
7                18             Kyle Busch
8               1                Jamie McMurray
9               88            Dale Earnhardt Jr.
10             10             Danica Patrick
11             3                Austin Dillon #
12             5               Kasey Kahne
13             11             Denny Hamlin
14             15             Clint Bowyer
15             55            Brian Vickers
16             14             Tony Stewart
17             48            Jimmie Johnson
18             20            Matt Kenseth
19             78             Martin Truex Jr.
20            47             AJ Allmendinger
21             31             Ryan Newman
22            51             Justin Allgaier #
23             17             Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
24            13             Casey Mears
25            16             Greg Biffle
26            99            Carl Edwards
27             9               Marcos Ambrose
28            43             Aric Almirola
29            27             Paul Menard
30             38             David Gilliland
31             98            Josh Wise
32             40            Landon Cassill
33             26            Cole Whitt #
34             32             Travis Kvapil
35             36             Reed Sorenson
36             23             Alex Bowman #
37             83             Ryan Truex #
38             7                Michael Annett #
39             34             David Ragan
40            37             Dave Blaney
41             66            Joe Nemechek
42            33             Alex Kennedy

43             93             Johnny Sauter

2 comments:

  1. Dwayne in Memphis5:51 PM

    Is Larson's relative success in the same car based more on how good he is as a driver or how underwhelming JPM was with fenders?

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    Replies
    1. That's a good question, because Larson won the pole but didn't race particularly well at Pocono. He's way ahead in the rookie race but the rest of the rookie field is showing so little fight (especially Austin Dillon, who looks clueless in a Cup car) that it's made Larson look a little less impressive than he might otherwise look.

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