AJ Allmendinger

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AJ Allmendinger scored the first NASCAR Sprint Cup Pole position of his career with a fast lap time of 134.675 mph at Phoenix International Raceway for Saturday night’s Subway Fresh Fit 600. The qualifying effort is the best of AJ’s young NASCAR career to date, and continues the momentum for AJ in his first season driving the famed No. 43 for Richard Petty Motorsports.

“We've been getting better on Fridays and Saturdays, but definitely have been improving. I'm really proud of the hard work Mike (Shiplett) and the 43 guys have been putting in to keep getting more consistent,” said AJ. “But we're looking at the big picture, so we'll take this as a small victory to give RPM, my guys, Valvoline and Best Buy. We want to be here in this position on Sundays-or Saturday in this case! That's what we're focusing on, but will definitely enjoy the rest of the evening!”

Allmendinger scored 13th at Phoenix in just his second race with Ford power in 2009, and will look to go even stronger as the NASCAR Sprint Cup stages a Saturday night shootout out West.

Race Lineup

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	43	A.J. Allmendinger	Ford	Valvoline	134.675	26.731	Leader
2	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	Red Bull	134.374	26.791	-0.060
3	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	134.198	26.826	-0.095
4	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	Kingsford / Bush's Beans	133.814	26.903	-0.172
5	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard / Amp Energy	133.640	26.938	-0.207
6	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	The Home Depot	133.427	26.981	-0.250
7	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	133.338	26.999	-0.268
8	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	133.294	27.008	-0.277
9	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Subway	133.254	27.016	-0.285
10	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	133.249	27.017	-0.286
11	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot "Greener Shipping" / Old Spice	133.215	27.024	-0.293
12	66	Michael McDowell	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	133.136	27.040	-0.309
13	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	133.126	27.042	-0.311
14	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Tornados	133.013	27.065	-0.334
15	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	132.974	27.073	-0.342
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's	132.905	27.087	-0.356
17	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's	132.890	27.090	-0.359
18	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	PetSmart / 21st Century "The Future of Pet Health"	132.871	27.094	-0.363
19	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	132.817	27.105	-0.374
20	9	Kasey Kahne	Ford	Budweiser	132.792	27.110	-0.379
21	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	132.787	27.111	-0.380
22	12	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Abyss by Mobigloo	132.748	27.119	-0.388
23	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	132.734	27.122	-0.391
24	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	132.719	27.125	-0.394
25	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Cheerios / Hamburger Helper	132.607	27.148	-0.417
26	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Office / March of Dimes	132.572	27.155	-0.424
27	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Crown Royal Black	132.504	27.169	-0.438
28	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Companies	132.441	27.182	-0.451
29	6	David Ragan	Ford	UPS	132.324	27.206	-0.475
30	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	132.299	27.211	-0.480
31	55	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Prism Motorsports	132.222	27.227	-0.496
32	98	Paul Menard	Ford	Moen / Menards	132.163	27.239	-0.508
33	7	Robby Gordon	Toyota	BAMVIP.com / Blake Shelton	132.057	27.261	-0.530
34	13	Max Papis	Toyota	GEICO	131.984	27.276	-0.545
35	190	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	Keyed-Up Motorsports	131.868	27.300	-0.569
36	37	David Gilliland	Ford	Taco Bell	131.829	27.308	-0.577
37	135	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	131.593	27.357	-0.626
38	19	Elliott Sadler	Ford	Stanley	131.339	27.410	-0.679
39	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	Best Western	130.719	27.540	-0.809
40	71	Bobby Labonte+	Chevrolet	TRG Motorsports	130.109	27.669	-0.938
41	34	Travis Kvapil+	Ford	Long John Silver's	129.908	27.712	-0.981
42	38	Kevin Conway+*	Ford	Extenze	127.542	28.226	-1.495
43	46	Terry Cook*	Dodge	Whitney Motorsports	131.569	27.362	-0.631
		DNQ
44	26	David Stremme	Ford	Air National Guard	131.425	27.392	-0.661
45	09	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction / GracewayPharmaceuticals	131.052	27.470	-0.739
46	36	Mike Bliss	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	130.676	27.549	-0.818
47	102	Brandon Ash	Dodge	Start Natural Energy Drink	128.811	27.948	-1.217

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie