Bank of America 500 Qualifying Update

Lowe's Motor Speedway -- 10/11/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Friday Oct 10 2008 8:10pm

As you are probably aware, this weekend's Bank of America 500 at Lowe's Motor Speedway (Charlotte) is the only Saturday night race in the Chase.

As such, most of the on-track activities are moved up one day from a typical weekend schedule, with first practice and qualifying planned for Thursday, second practice and Happy Hour on Friday, and the race itself Saturday night.
The Nationwide race is also scheduled for Friday evening.

The problem with the schedule this time around has been the weather. It rained all day in Charlotte on Thursday, canceling practice and qualifying for the Cup series.

Consequently, cars will line up on Saturday night by owner's points, putting Chase points leaders Jimmie Johnson (+325) and Carl Edwards (+400) side-by-side on the front row.

That is just one of a series of good omens that seem to be falling into place for Johnson. The Lowe's Motor Speedway not only bears his primary sponsor's name, but Johnson is making his 250th career Cup start at the track this weekend.

Johnson will commemorate the milestone with a special decal honoring his 250th start on the deck lid of his car Saturday night. He will also be debuting his 2009 Lowe’s paint scheme.

"I can’t believe this weekend is my 250th start," said Johnson. "I've been very lucky in my career that I've had one sponsor - Lowe's - since I started racing in the Sprint Cup series. It somehow seems fitting that we'll be able to celebrate the occasion together at Lowe’s Motor Speedway."

And, just for good measure, Johnson had the fastest car in Happy Hour Friday, after running 8th in the earlier practice session. His best Happy Hour time was a 183.007 mph, 29.507 second lap.

Of course, the rain delay which put Johnson on the pole also gave him the first pit choice and he selected stall number one, giving him a distinct advantage getting off pit road throughout the race.

Four Chase drivers ran in the top 10 in first practice Friday, led by Carl Edwards with a 29.662. Greg Biffle (+500) was 4th, Jeff Gordon (+1800) 6th, and Johnson 8th. Kasey Kahne (+1800), Elliott Sadler and Casey Mears were also in the top 5.

Chasers Johnson and Edwards were 1-2 in Happy Hour, with Biffle 5th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1500) 6th, and Tony Stewart (+900), who's rumored to have a very fast car this weekend, 10th. Jamie McMurray, who started on the pole in Friday's NWS race was 3rd with Juan Pablo Montoya 4th.

There were a few incidents worth noting in final practice. Kyle Busch, Clint Bowyer (+5000) and Sam Hornish Jr. all got into the wall to varying degrees. Busch's damage was primarily cosmetic; Bowyer's was worse, but the car is reportedly reparable. Hornish will be going to a backup.

A number of cars crashed in Nationwide qualifying and drivers complained throughout the NWS race that the track was not tightening up at night as it normally does. If this continues in the Cup race, teams will be fighting loose conditions all night and there may be a number of collisions.

Lining up behind Johnson and Edwards on the starting grid are Greg Biffle (also looking stout so far) and Jeff Burton (+2500); row three, Clint Bowyer and Kevin Harvick (+2500); row four, Tony Stewart and Jeff Gordon; row five, Matt Kenseth (+1500) and Dale Earnhardt Jr.; and row six, Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin (+2500) - the latter cleared to race after last week's vicious crash in Talladega.

As a result of the rain-out, Brad Keselowski, Bryan Clauson and Scott Speed were unable to make qualifying attempts.

Track position is important at Lowe's with more than half of the 99 Cup series races here won from a top-5 starting spot, and over three-quarters won from the top 10. 13 winners have come from the pole, though Jimmie Johnson came from a 37th-place start to win in May of 2003.

Johnson, however, was one of many cars to get loose and hit the wall in the Nationwide race on Friday night.

There was still rain throughout the day Friday and in the NWS race as well, but the chance of rain is expected to diminish over the weekend.