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The Joe Gibbs Racing Qualifying Report Presented by Interstate BatteriesNASCAR Sprint Cup Series – Subway Fresh Fit 500k
Date: April 10, 2008 JGR Lineup: Kyle Busch (6th, 27.012 seconds at 133.274 mph) Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 18 Snickers Toyota, led the three-car Joe Gibbs Racing contingent in time trials at Phoenix International Raceway by qualifying sixth for Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 500k NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. Busch turned a lap of 27.012 seconds at 133.274 mph on the 1-mile oval. “It was a pretty good run for us,” said Busch, who has a win (November 2005) and a pole (April 2006) on his Sprint Cup resume at Phoenix. “The Snickers Toyota Camry has been pretty good since we unloaded it here today. We tested well out here about a month ago and feel like we have a pretty good race car. We’ll take them as we can get them, and so far we’ve been getting them pretty well.” Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammates – Tony Stewart in the No. 20 Subway/Home Depot Toyota and Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 FedEx Kinko’s/March of Dimes Toyota – qualified 12th and 16th, respectively. Stewart turned a lap of 27.101 seconds at 132.836 mph while Hamlin stopped the clocks in 27.187 seconds at 132.416 mph. “We had a good (turn) one and two, just needed to get through three and four a little better,” said Stewart, who won his second career Sprint Cup race at Phoenix during his rookie year in 1999. “I left a little bit on the table there. I think the rewards of the test are coming out now. We ran decent. Didn’t qualify exactly where I want to be, but we ran a solid lap.” “For whatever reason, we didn’t have the speed we had earlier (during practice),” said Hamlin, who scored his first career Sprint Cup pole in his first visit to Phoenix in November 2005. “We picked up a little bit, but not nearly as much as other guys. I felt like I ran my lines good, it was just a situation where we didn’t feel we had the grip we had before. We slowed down a lot from what we thought we’d run. We just couldn’t find the speed that we had. I don’t know exactly what we have to do.” Ryan Newman captured his 43rd career pole, his first of the season and his fourth at Phoenix with a time of 26.975 seconds at 133.457 mph. Elliott Sadler will start alongside Newman on the outside of row one, as he timed in at 26.984 seconds at 133.412 mph. Carl Edwards (26.991 seconds at 133.378 mph) was third, while Mark Martin (26.993 seconds at 133.368 mph) and Kasey Kahne (27.006 seconds at 133.304 mph) rounded out the top-five. Forty-five drivers attempted to qualify for the Subway Fresh Fit 500k. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Kyle Petty and John Andretti. As far as manufacturers went, Dodge swept the front row via the times posted by Newman and Sadler. Ford was next best at the hands of Edwards. Chevrolet posted the third-quickest time thanks to Martin. And carrying the flag for Toyota was Busch. The Subway Fresh Fit 500k gets underway at 8:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, April 12 with live, high-definition coverage provided by FOX beginning with its pre-race show at 8 p.m. The race will also be broadcast on SIRIUS Satellite Radio Channel 128. |
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