UAW-Dodge 400 Qualifying Update

Las Vegas Motor Speedway -- 03/02/08

Author: Becca Gladden

Published: Saturday Mar 1 2008 11:24pm

The recent practice and qualifying sessions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway had crew chiefs throughout the Sprint Cup garage scratching their heads and, in some cases, scrambling to prepare back-up cars for race day.

Despite the fact that the series had a two-day test session at Vegas in late January, track conditions are so different now that many teams are simply scrapping their testing notes and trying totally new set-ups.

There was much more grip on the track in the cooler January temperatures, and the combination of near-80 degree heat, a relatively green race track, and the trickier handling of the COT had cars slip-sliding around like penguins on an ice floe - or as Darrell Waltrip likes to say, the cars were running slideways.

In Friday's practice session, six cars (all Dodges) experienced spins or wrecks, including Sam Hornish Jr., Patrick Carpentier, Juan Pablo Montoya, Reed Sorenson, Kasey Kahne and Bobby Labonte. At least two of those teams - Montoya and Labonte - are going to back-up cars Sunday. Ironically, Montoya turned the slowest lap time Friday at 169.795 mph, after having the single fastest lap in preseason testing at 186.761.

Clint Bowyer crashed in Happy Hour on Saturday, getting a piece of Kyle Petty in process. Bowyer, too, is going to a backup and will start from the rear of the field.

On the plus side, Kyle Busch led the Friday practice session with a 179.946 mph lap, followed by Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Tony Stewart, and David Reutimann in a go-or-go-home car.

The fastest cars in Saturday morning practice were Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Travis Kvapil, and David Gilliland, while Happy Hour was paced by Kasey Kahne, Carl Edwards, Paul Menard, Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson. Meanwhile, qualifying was held Friday afternoon with Kyle Busch, building on his fast practice time that morning, scoring the pole with a 182.352 mph lap in his Joe Gibbs Toyota. Joining Busch on the front row is Roush-Fenway Racing's Carl Edwards, who was also fast in Happy Hour. Rounding out the top 5 are Mark Martin, Jeff Gordon, and Mike Skinner, who was also in a go-or-go-home position.

The top 10 in terms of qualifying are fairly even split among manufacturers, with two Toyotas, two Fords, two Dodges, and four Chevy's in the top 10.

Joining Mike Skinner as drivers who made the field on time are Patrick Carpentier, David Reutimann, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip, and Brian Vickers. Kurt Busch and Dale Jarrett are in on past-champion provisionals.

Drivers who failed to qualify include A.J. Allmendinger, Joe Nemechek, John Andretti, and Johnny Sauter, who hit the wall during his qualifying lap. Jimmie Johnson, who has won this race the past three years (last year from a 23rd-place starting spot), qualified 33rd.

Mark Martin, who qualified third and won Saturday's Nationwide Series race, surprised both himself and his team with his second row starting spot. "I just told the guys - we got a great laugh here - 'cause I told them that if I had the lap of my life we will be about 25th, and if I don't, it will be worse than that," said Martin. "So coming off the corner, that must be why I went so fast."

At press time, Jimmie Johnson is the nascar oddsmakers' favorite at +450, followed by Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart at +550.

Kyle Busch, starting on the pole and leading the Cup series points, is a tempting choice at +900.