Jimmie Johnson Captures Pole for AAA 400
September 25, 2009 by Warren Hayashi
Filed under Racing
The next round of NASCAR’s playoff round, the Chase is about to put the metal to the pedal in a few days. Tire testing and qualifying for the next round of the Chase, Sunday’s AAA 400, were held on the pavement of Dover International Speedway today and there weren’t really any surprises to be had.
Jimmie Johnson had an excellent day as he was out on the track running and testing the rubber that is available from Goodyear. This was something that I was expecting to see Johnson achieve and he didn’t disappoint in Friday’s qualifying session at the Monster Mile. He went around the high-banked, concrete surface of the track in a fast 22.878 seconds, at an average of 157.356 miles per hour, to take the pole-position in Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover. This average speed is just a shade under the 158.026 miles per hour average he achieved in the opening practice session.
This result for Johnson came with him starting as the 28th driver to take to the track at Dover to qualify for Sunday’s competition. A track where he has four career wins, including a win in the May’s race at Dover.
Johnson just beat Juan Montoya’s 156.699 mile per hour average which he achieved in his No. 42 Chevrolet, which is surprising since Montoya was the first driver to take to the track during Friday’s qualifying session. Despite Montoya’s fast time, it was very apparent once Johnson for on the track that unless he made a major mistake he was going to take the pole position for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover International Speedway. Juan went out there and let it all hang out and gave it his best try, but if you have the second fastest car, it’s hard to come first.
Kasey Kahne needed to have a fast qualifying round at Dover to try to make up for his 39th place finish in the opening round of the Chase. He really needed at least a top ten finish Sunday to recover and put himself in a better position. He ended up qualifying sixth for Sunday’s race, which should be good enough to allow him to get a good start Sunday.
Ryan Newman had the third fastest time of the day, followed by Greg Biffle, David Reutimann, Kasey Kahne, Jeff Gordon, Clint Bowyer, Sam Hornish Jr. and Paul Menard rounded out the top ten qualifiers for Sunday’s AAA 400 at Dover.
“Image: Zuma Press”
