JGR qualifying report - Phoenix

* Date: Nov. 10, 2006
* Event: Checker Auto Parts 500k Qualifying
* Series: NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series
* Location: Phoenix International Raceway (1-mile oval)
* Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon with Hendrick Motorsports
* JGR Lineup: Denny Hamlin (22nd); Tony Stewart (23rd); J.J. Yeley (35th)

Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 FedEx Ground Chevrolet, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing contingent by qualifying 22nd for Sunday's Checker Auto Parts 500k NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Phoenix International Raceway. Hamlin turned a lap of 27.127 seconds at 132.709 mph on the 1-mile oval.

"The FedEx Ground Chevrolet was really good in race trim and that's the most important thing," said Hamlin. "We picked up (from practice) but we should have picked up a lot more that what we did. Every mock run we picked up two-tenths on our second lap. Had we picked up two-tenths this time we would have really been looking good. I messed up and hit the apron. I made a driver error. It'll be all right."

Hamlin's Joe Gibbs Racing teammates - Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet and J.J. Yeley in the No. 18 Boniva® (ibandronate sodium) Chevrolet - qualified 23rd and 35th, respectively. Stewart turned a lap of 27.132 seconds at a speed of 132.685 mph, while Yeley timed in at 27.439 seconds with an average speed of 131.200 mph.

"We were tight in (turns) one and two and loose off," said Stewart. "It wasn't what we wanted, by any means. But we've got all day tomorrow to get it better."

"We just lost a lot of forward bite from what we had in practice," said Yeley. "I'm really disappointed. I know it's not going to take much as far as having a bad lap to really set you back in the field. I think we could have at least backed our time up from what we ran in practice, and that would have been decent. Going out early wasn't a big help and I didn't get up to speed very good, either. We'll start toward the back of the pack and have to work our way to the front."

Hall of Fame Racing, which gets its engines, cars and technical support from Joe Gibbs Racing, will start 41st with Tony Raines at the wheel of the No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet. Raines turned a lap of 27.623 seconds at a speed of 130.326 mph.

"We were real loose off both laps," said Raines. "I got loose on the second lap off of turn two pretty good. We were fighting that in practice. We definitely made the car drive better, but we didn't get enough of it to run better. It isn't real good, but we were pretty happy with it in race trim, so we'll just work on it and go from there."

Despite the sub-par qualifying efforts, all can take heart that no driver at Phoenix has won from the pole, and that five of the last six Phoenix winners have started from outside the top-10.

Jeff Gordon captured his 56th career pole position and his second of the season with a time of 26.773 seconds at a speed of 134.464 mph. Rounding out the top-five in qualifying were Kevin Harvick (26.871 seconds at 133.973 mph), Brian Vickers (26.876 seconds at 133.949 mph), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (26.932 seconds at 133.670 mph) and Joe Nemechek (26.942 seconds at 133.620 mph).

Fifty-one drivers attempted to qualify for the 312-lap race. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Jason Leffler, Todd Kluever, Morgan Shepherd, Brandon Ash, Kevin Lepage, Kenny Wallace, Derrike Cope and Jeremy Mayfield.

As far as manufacturers went, Chevy swept the top-five while Ford and Dodge took spots sixth and seventh, respectively. Representing Ford was Greg Biffle (26.959 seconds at 133.536 mph) and representing Dodge was Ryan Newman (26.963 seconds at 133.516 mph).

The Checker Auto Parts 500k gets underway on Sun., Nov. 12 at 3:25 p.m. EST. NBC will broadcast the race live and in high-definition.