Aric Almirola

On one of the most prestigious weekends in all of motorsports, it seems fitting that an icon of the sport will see the car he made famous lead the field to the start of NASCAR’s longest Sprint Cup race.

Aric Almirola took Richard Petty’s famed no. 43 Ford Fusion to the top of the field in Thursday’s qualifying for Sunday’s 53rd annual Coca Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway to score his first career pole, while teammate Marcos Ambrose took the outside pole to give Richard Petty Motorsports a sweep of the front row.

Jimmie Johnson qualified third, followed by Greg Biffle and Clint Bowyer.

Almirola’s pole-winning effort was the 156th pole all-time for a Petty-owned team and the third in the Coca Cola 600, the last one coming in 1966 with Richard Petty behind the wheel of the no. 43.

“That’s really awesome.  To get my first pole right here in Charlotte.  I get to drive home and go sleep in my own bed tonight.  That’s really cool,” said Almirola. “Mike Ford (crew chief) and all the guys on this Richard Petty Motorsports team did an awesome job.  Memorial Day Weekend with Air Force on the car, it’s really cool.”

Almirola outpaced the field by nearly a full second, running 192.940 mph in the no. 43 Air Force Ford Fusion to earn his first pole in his 47th-career series start. It is the first pole for Richard Petty Motorsports since Elliott Sadler took the top spot at Texas in November of 2010.

“It’s been a huge honor for me from day one to be able to come to this organization,” said Almirola, “not just to drive at Richard Petty Motorsports, I’m not just driving at Richard Petty Motorsports, I’m driving the 43 car – probably the most iconic car in the history of our sport – so for him to allow me to do that and for him to ask me to come and do that is just really special and it’s a huge honor to be able to put that 43 car back on top of the board.  To see it over there in Victory Lane and get our picture taken is really cool.”

It was a surprising and welcome success for one of NASCAR’s most storied teams, and one that nearly closed its doors after the 2008 season before merging with Gillett Evernham Motorsports in 2009 and bringing in an outside investment group to breathe new life into a team that once dominated the sport.

“It’s been awhile since we’ve been up here,” said Petty as he addressed the media after winning the pole. “It really makes me feel good that our guys have been working hard for a long time and they finally got a little bit of recognition. 

“Everything came together tonight with both cars and it was just kind of a deal from my standpoint it shows that what these guys have been doing has been right, but we just haven’t had circumstances right.  Tonight, circumstances were right.  They had everything lined up and from that standpoint it’s a confidence-builder that they thought they were working hard and getting the job done, and all of a sudden they’re getting the job done.”

As the fastest driver is Thursday’s practice session, Ambrose was the last driver to take to the track and tried to run down his teammate looking for his own first career pole, but came up more than a mile-an-hour slower, turning in a lap of 191.598 mph to take second.

“My Ford was really hooked up, just not quite enough to get the pole, but we’ll take a front row,” said Ambrose, whose previous best start was a second at Martinsville in 2010. “If you’re gonna get beaten by anyone, I guess you want to be beaten by your teammate. What a great day for Richard Petty and Richard Petty Motorsports.  We’re a two-car team independent here trying to take it to the big super teams.  It’s just a great night for us.”

“Nothing would make me happier than to see the King smile in Victory Lane and that’s our goal.  I’m proud to represent him and even prouder to run well for him, so it’s an honor to be a driver for him and he should feel good about what we did today because a year-and-a-half ago he single-handedly saved this team and kept it alive and he’s still steering the ship for us and he’s here at the track.  He’s been here today and he’s just a great inspiration to have and someone to really feel good about running well for.”

Danica Patrick, trying to become only the second woman to run in the Coca Cola 600, qualified 40th for her third Sprint Cup start.

Kurt Busch brought out the only yellow flag of the session, losing the back end of his no. 51 Chevrolet coming through turn two and nosing it into the inside wall.

Mike Bliss, J.J. Yeley, Scott Riggs and former Coca Cola 600 winner David Reutimann failed to qualify for Sunday’s race.

Results

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	U.S. Air Force	192.940	27.988	Leader
2	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	DEWALT	191.598	28.184	-0.196
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe's Patriotic	191.374	28.217	-0.229
4	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Fastenal	191.259	28.234	-0.246
5	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	5-hour Energy	191.198	28.243	-0.255
6	55	Mark Martin	Toyota	Aaron's Armed Forces Foundation	191.171	28.247	-0.259
7	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Quaker State	191.130	28.253	-0.265
8	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	190.887	28.289	-0.301
9	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Menards / Serta	190.597	28.332	-0.344
10	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	190.456	28.353	-0.365
11	22	AJ Allmendinger	Dodge	Shell / Pennzoil	190.329	28.372	-0.384
12	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	National Guard 'An American Salute' / Diet Mountain Dew	190.302	28.376	-0.388
13	21	Trevor Bayne	Ford	Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center	190.268	28.381	-0.393
14	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser Folds of Honor	190.201	28.391	-0.403
15	56	Martin Truex Jr.	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	190.194	28.392	-0.404
16	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	190.054	28.413	-0.425
17	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M's Red, White & Blue	190.034	28.416	-0.428
18	83	Landon Cassill	Toyota	Burger King Real Fruit Smoothies	189.987	28.423	-0.435
19	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	Dollar General	189.707	28.465	-0.477
20	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	Fastenal	189.607	28.480	-0.492
21	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Office Depot / Mobil 1	189.574	28.485	-0.497
22	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	Wheaties	189.520	28.493	-0.505
23	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	189.076	28.560	-0.572
24	2	Brad Keselowski	Dodge	Miller Lite	188.871	28.591	-0.603
25	13	Casey Mears	Ford	GEICO	188.363	28.668	-0.680
26	47	Bobby Labonte	Toyota	Kingsford	188.344	28.671	-0.683
27	74	Cole Whitt	Chevrolet	Turn One Racing	188.324	28.674	-0.686
28	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Fastenal	188.206	28.692	-0.704
29	42	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet	Target	187.924	28.735	-0.747
30	34	David Ragan	Ford	Al's Liners / Scorpion Coatings	187.656	28.776	-0.788
31	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Arctic Cat	187.526	28.796	-0.808
32	98	Michael McDowell	Ford	Presbyterian Healthcare System	187.487	28.802	-0.814
33	26	Josh Wise*	Ford	MDS Transport	187.259	28.837	-0.849
34	33	Stephen Leicht*	Chevrolet	Little Joe's Autos / Precon	187.169	28.851	-0.863
35	30	David Stremme	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	186.143	29.010	-1.022
36	36	Dave Blaney	Chevrolet	SealWrap	186.111	29.015	-1.027
37	93	Travis Kvapil	Toyota	Dr Pepper	186.085	29.019	-1.031
38	195	Scott Speed	Ford	Jordan's Truck Sales	185.976	29.036	-1.048
39	38	David Gilliland	Ford	ModSpace	185.810	29.062	-1.074
40	10	Danica Patrick+	Chevrolet	GoDaddy.com	-	-	-
41	32	T.J. Bell+	Ford	Green Smoke	-	-	-
42	51	Kurt Busch+	Chevrolet	Phoenix Construction Services	-	-	-
43	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	Global Barter Corp / AM FM Energy Wood and Pellet Stoves / SWM Completion Tools	185.784	29.066	-1.078
DNQ	249	J.J. Yeley	Toyota	America Israel Racing / JPO Absorbents	-	-	-
DNQ	119	Mike Bliss	Toyota	Humphrey Smith Racing	-	-	-
DNQ	173	David Reutimann	Toyota	Burger King	-	-	-
DNQ	23	Scott Riggs	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	-	-	-

+ Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie