| |  | | CIA Stock Photo | Brian Vickers congratulates fellow Toyota driver Dave Blaney on winning the pole. | | | | TOYOTA TALK | Win some, lose some | Blaney grabs first pole for Toyota;
Vickers DQ'ed on post-qualifying inspection |
| | By Reid Spencer / Sporting News Wire Service LOUDON, N.H. -- With a blistering lap at 129.437 mph, Dave Blaney put Toyota on the pole for a NASCAR Nextel Cup race for the first time in the carmaker’s debut season.
Blaney covered the one-mile distance at New Hampshire International Speedway in 29.426 seconds to edge Kurt Busch (129.182 mph) for the top starting spot in Sunday’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300.
Reed Sorenson (128.589 mph) qualified third, followed by Johnny Sauter
(128.502 mph) and Juan Pablo Montoya (128.411 mph), last week’s winner at Infineon Raceway.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kevin Harvick, Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson claimed the sixth through 10th starting positions.
The milestone for Toyota also was  | | CIA Stock Photo | The milestone for Toyota also was Blaney’s first pole position since 2003. |
Blaney’s first pole position since he started from the top spot for the only time in his career 158 races ago—on Feb.23, 2003 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.
“It feels good,” Blaney said. “First pole for Toyota, and hopefully one step in a lot of successful days for Toyota as far as poles and wins.
The Toyota side is definitely making ground. This is a big confidence booster for the whole team.”
Outside the top 35 in owner points, and therefore not guaranteed a starting position for Sunday’s race, Blaney had to run conservatively on the first of his two qualifying laps.
“I watched everybody early, and speed seemed to be off a little bit from practice,” said Blaney, who was fastest in Friday’s opening practice session. “In my position, I’ve got to qualify for the race. I can’t afford to make a mistake and not make the race. The second lap we ran a little harder.”
As it turned out, the second lap was barely enough to hold off Busch, who made his qualifying attempt 90 minutes later than scheduled because of a brake problem that required repair. Busch was gracious in his congratulations for Blaney and the No. 22 Bill Davis Racing team.
“It’s exciting for the Nextel Cup Series,” Busch said. “It’s exciting to see another manufacturer have some success.”
Vickers fails post-qualifying inspection
Despite Blaney’s pole-winning effort, qualifying was a mixed bag for Toyota.
Brian Vickers would have qualified for the race, but his 28th-place starting time was disallowed because the left front of his No. 83 Camry was deemed too low during post-qualifying inspection.
As a result, Vickers will miss the race, along with fellow Camry drivers Dale Jarrett, Michael Waltrip and AJ Allmendinger, who failed to qualify on time. Vickers’ misfortune promoted Chad Chaffin, who took over for Mike Bliss in the No. 49 Dodge, into the field.
Notes: Both Sorenson and Sauter posted their career-best Cup qualifying efforts. Sauter hadn’t qualified better than 30th in three previous starts at NHIS… All three drivers with suspended crew chiefs will start in the top 10:
Earnhardt Jr. (sixth), Gordon (eighth) and Johnson (10th) | | Posted June 29, 2007 , 11:06 pm EST
Last Updated July 01, 2007 , 7:52 pm EST | | | | | | |
