Ragan comes out of nowhere to win Brickyard 400 pole
David Ragan continued Roush Fenway Racing's domination of the first two days of the Brickyard 400 presented by Big Machine Records.com, winning the pole Saturday, July 30 with a lap of 182.994 mph.
Roush Fenway ruled all three practice sessions at this event, with Matt Kenseth leading the opening practice Friday and Greg Biffle on top of the second practice Friday and pre-qualifying practice Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. But Ragan stole the show in qualifying, claiming the first Brickyard 400 pole for himself and Roush Fenway late in the session in the No. 6 UPS Hall of Fame/Ned Jarrett Ford.
"It sounds good," Ragan said. "Brickyard winner would sound even better. This is the first step to winning the race tomorrow. Our UPS Ford has been fast. It's been fast in qualifying trim. We still need to work on it a little bit for race trim. We're just a little off, but I have a lot of confidence in our team that we can make the right decisions tomorrow and be up front."
The 160-lap race starts at 1 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
Kasey Kahne will join Ragan on the front row after turning a lap of 182.927 in the No. 4 Red Bull Toyota. Three-time Brickyard 400 winner Jimmie Johnson will start third in the No. 48 Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet after a qualifying lap of 182.801.
Penske Racing teammates Kurt Busch and Brad Keselowski qualified fourth and fifth, respectively, trying to deliver 15-time Indianapolis 500-winning car owner Roger Penske his first Brickyard 400 victory.
Busch was fourth at 182.671 in the No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Dodge, with Keselowski fifth at 182.556 in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge.
The first four spots in the starting field are occupied by each of the four manufacturers competing in NASCAR Sprint Cup.
Four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon will start eighth after a lap of 182.242 in the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet.
Indiana natives and Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Ryan Newman and Tony Stewart share the 12th row in the starting lineup. Newman qualified 23rd at 181.320 in the No. 39 Haas Automation Chevrolet, with Stewart 24th at 181.251 in the No. 14 Mobil 1/Office Depot Chevrolet.
LINEUP
|
POS |
CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND |
| 1 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | UPS / Ned Jarrett NASCAR Hall of Fame | 182.994 | 49.182 | Leader |
| 2 | 4 | Kasey Kahne | Toyota | Red Bull | 182.927 | 49.200 | -0.018 |
| 3 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools | 182.801 | 49.234 | -0.052 |
| 4 | 22 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Shell / Pennzoil | 182.671 | 49.269 | -0.087 |
| 5 | 2 | Brad Keselowski | Dodge | Miller Lite | 182.556 | 49.300 | -0.118 |
| 6 | 43 | A.J. Allmendinger | Ford | Best Buy | 182.445 | 49.330 | -0.148 |
| 7 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | Target | 182.367 | 49.351 | -0.169 |
| 8 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | Drive to End Hunger | 182.242 | 49.385 | -0.203 |
| 9 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | Crown Royal | 182.216 | 49.392 | -0.210 |
| 10 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Ortho Home Defense Max | 182.050 | 49.437 | -0.255 |
| 11 | 13 | Casey Mears | Toyota | GEICO | 182.024 | 49.444 | -0.262 |
| 12 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | Quaker State / GoDaddy.com | 181.969 | 49.459 | -0.277 |
| 13 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | Caterpillar | 181.895 | 49.479 | -0.297 |
| 14 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | FedEx Express | 181.892 | 49.480 | -0.298 |
| 15 | 27 | Paul Menard | Chevrolet | NIBCO / Menards | 181.870 | 49.486 | -0.304 |
| 16 | 1 | Jamie McMurray | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 181.848 | 49.492 | -0.310 |
| 17 | 47 | Bobby Labonte | Toyota | Huggies Little Movers Slip-On Diapers | 181.715 | 49.528 | -0.346 |
| 18 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | American Red Cross / Type O "Give Blood" | 181.682 | 49.537 | -0.355 |
| 19 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Jimmy John's Gourmet Sandwiches | 181.635 | 49.550 | -0.368 |
| 20 | 20 | Joey Logano | Toyota | The Home Depot | 181.422 | 49.608 | -0.426 |
| 21 | 9 | Marcos Ambrose | Ford | Stanley | 181.389 | 49.617 | -0.435 |
| 22 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Amp Energy / National Guard | 181.335 | 49.632 | -0.450 |
| 23 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | Haas Automation | 181.320 | 49.636 | -0.454 |
| 24 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | Mobil 1 / Office Depot | 181.251 | 49.655 | -0.473 |
| 25 | 21 | Trevor Bayne | Ford | Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center | 181.134 | 49.687 | -0.505 |
| 26 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Cheerios / Hamburger Helper | 180.981 | 49.729 | -0.547 |
| 27 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Companies | 180.926 | 49.744 | -0.562 |
| 28 | 00 | David Reutimann | Toyota | Aaron's Dream Machine | 180.912 | 49.748 | -0.566 |
| 29 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | M&M's | 180.854 | 49.764 | -0.582 |
| 30 | 56 | Martin Truex Jr. | Toyota | NAPA Platinum Filter | 180.618 | 49.829 | -0.647 |
| 31 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 180.611 | 49.831 | -0.649 |
| 32 | 51 | Landon Cassill | Chevrolet | Thank A Teacher Today / Security Benefit | 180.133 | 49.963 | -0.781 |
| 33 | 36 | Dave Blaney | Chevrolet | Big Red | 179.924 | 50.021 | -0.839 |
| 34 | 37 | Scott Speed | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 179.548 | 50.126 | -0.944 |
| 35 | 66 | Michael McDowell | Toyota | HP Racing LLC | 179.451 | 50.153 | -0.971 |
| 36 | 87 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | AMFMEnergy.com / Pellet & Wood Stoves | 179.297 | 50.196 | -1.014 |
| 37 | 34 | David Gilliland | Ford | Front Row Motorsports | 179.276 | 50.202 | -1.020 |
| 38 | 60 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | Big Red | 178.990 | 50.282 | -1.100 |
| 39 | 71 | Andy Lally* | Ford | Interstate Moving Services | 178.926 | 50.300 | -1.118 |
| 40 | 150 | T.J. Bell* | Chevrolet | Green Smoke | 177.992 | 50.564 | -1.382 |
| 41 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Dodge | Speed Energy | 177.866 | 50.600 | -1.418 |
| 42 | 32 | Mike Bliss+ | Ford | TMone "We Drive Sales" | 177.862 | 50.601 | -1.419 |
| 43 | 223 | Terry Labonte | Ford | CRMone "We Drive Service" | Champion's Provisional |