Jimmie Johnson wins pole at Indy; Mark Martin earns outside slot

[admin]

INDIANAPOLIS -- In a Saturday morning qualifying session dominated by Chevrolet and Dodge, Jimmie Johnson won the pole for Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, narrowly edging Mark Martin for the top spot.

The 18th driver on the track at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Johnson covered the 2.5-mile distance in 49.515 seconds (181.763 mph) to post a formidable target for the cars that followed. Martin, who followed 12 positions later, was the only driver who came close, completing his lap in 49.616 seconds (181.393 mph).

Allstate 400 / Brickyard Lineup

Pos. Driver Speed Time
1. J. Johnson 181.763 49.515
2. M. Martin 181.393 49.616
3. R. Newman 180.970 49.732
4. K. Kahne 180.810 49.776
5. J. Gordon 180.545 49.849
6. E. Sadler 180.397 49.890
7. Ku. Busch 180.343 49.905
8. J. McMurray 180.321 49.911
9. C. Edwards 180.209 49.942
10. M. Kenseth 179.917 50.023

Ryan Newman qualified third at 180.970 mph, followed by Kasey Kahne (180.810 mph) and Jeff Gordon (180.545 mph). Elliott Sadler and Kurt Busch will start sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Roush Fenway Racing teammates Jamie McMurray, Carl Edwards and Matt Kenseth in a trio of Fords.

Johnson, Martin and Gordon are Chevy drivers, while Newman, Kahne, Sadler, and Busch drive Dodges. Defending race winner Tony Stewart paced the Toyota contingent with a 14th-place effort.

Johnson, who claimed his first pole at Indianapolis, his second of the season and the 15th of his career, said he ran 50 laps in his mind Saturday morning before making his qualifying attempt.

"I was trying to hit all my marks [mentally]," he said. "Then I rolled out there, got two of the four corners right and won the pole."

Johnson admitted that his lap was far from mistake-free. After a solid run through Turn 1, he drove too hard in the second corner, tried to make up for the mistake in Turn 3 and overdrove the corner. But Johnson nailed Turn 4 and raced to the finish line with enough of a cushion to withstand Martin's challenge.

"It's fun when you have a car that drives that well, and you can challenge yourself and really be aggressive with it."

Martin, who will join Johnson at Hendrick Motorsports next season, predicted seven weeks ago at Pocono that his car would contend for the win at the Brickyard. He brought to Indy the same No. 8 Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolet he drove to a fifth-place finish at Phoenix and a third-place result at Richmond.

"I felt like the Phoenix car would relate to these flat corners," Martin said. "We parked this car after Richmond and earmarked it for Indy. We were a little off in our race setup [during Friday's practice], but I think we can work on that and get the car to race really well [on Sunday]."

Notes: Rookie Patrick Carpentier (15th) was the fastest of the 12 drivers required to qualify on speed. ... Bill Elliott, Johnny Sauter, Tony Raines and Stanton Barrett failed to qualify for Sunday's race. ... Terry Labonte will start 43rd on a past champion's provisional in the No. 45 Petty Enterprises Dodge.