Sharpie 500 Qualifying Update

Bristol Motor Speedway -- 08/23/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Aug 23 2008 1:13am

With this week's Bristol race a Saturday night event, all of the Cup preparations took place on the track Friday - two practice sessions, with qualifying in between.

Both practices were led by Kasey Kahne (+1050), who posted a 15.796 second, 121.474 mile per hour lap in the first practice, and a 16.010/119.828 in the second one.

Kahne and rookie Regan Smith were the only drivers to run in the top 10 in both practices. Between the two sessions, Happy Hour times are probably a bit more important, since some teams worked more on qualifying runs in the early practice, and the later start time of Happy Hour is a little closer to the actual start time of the race.

Looking at those HH practice times, then, it's interesting to note that the top 10 consists of three Dodges and seven Chevys. Following Kahne in terms of fast lap times was Martin Truex Jr. (+1800), Kevin Harvick (+650), Aric Almirola, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1185).

Rounding out the top 10 was Kurt Busch (+1800), Regan Smith, Reed Sorenson, Casey Mears and Jeff Burton (+1800). The fastest Toyota was Ken Schrader in the No. 96 car, who ran 11th, while Carl Edwards (+445) had the fastest Ford at 15th.

It was Edwards, however, who ran the quickest qualifying lap and will lead the field to green Saturday night. "Concrete Carl" Edwards posted a 15.746 second, 121.860 lap - about 9/10ths faster than David Reutimann on the outside pole.

Lining up behind Edwards and Reutimann are Jeff Gordon (+1085) and Regan Smith in row two, Bill Elliott (in the 21 car) and Kevin Harvick in row 3, and Ken Schrader and AJ Allmendinger in row 4. Elliot, Schrader and Allmendinger are all go-or-go-homers. Kyle Busch (+585) and Elliott Sadler (+5000) round out the top 10 in qualifying.

A few notables farther back on the starting grid are Tony Stewart (+900), 28th, Jimmie Johnson (+1550), 34th, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (+1185), 40th, who's getting in on an owner's provisional. Most of the drivers who struggled were complaining of a slick track and loose handling.

Jeff Green, Patrick Carpentier, and Johnny Sauter failed to qualify.

Statistically, there's an 8 in 10 chance that the race winner will come from a top 10 starting spot, though races here have been won from much deeper in the field - including Elliott Sadler, who came from 38th place in the March 2001 Bristol race to win. "Qualifying isn’t as important as it once was here," Sadler noted Friday, "as you have two grooves to pass."

David Ragan (+7500) in the No. 6 car, still vying for one of the final spots in the Chase, hit the wall and may be going to a backup (unclear at press time).

Another note of interest: Kyle Petty, returning to the No. 45 car after working as a TV broadcaster for several weeks, qualified 29th for his 50th Cup series race at Bristol - the most of any active driver.