Finger Lakes 355k at The Glen Qualifying Report

M&M’s Racing
 
Date:               Aug. 11, 2012
Event:             Finger Lakes 355k at The Glen Qualifying (Round 22 of 36)
Series:             NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location:        Watkins Glen (N.Y) International (2.45-mile, 11-turn road course)
Pole Winner:   Juan Pablo Montoya of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing (69.438 seconds at 127.020 mph – track record)
Kyle Busch:    2nd (69.488 seconds at 126.928 mph)
 
Kyle Busch qualified second for Sunday’s Finger Lakes 355k at The Glen NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Watkins Glen (N.Y) International. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) turned a lap of 69.488 seconds at 126.928 mph on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course.
 
“I think our lap was really, really good,” said Busch, who won the Sprint Cup race at Watkins Glen in 2008. “The M&M’s Camry drove well. There were a couple corners where I got a little bit loose in, and maybe that was kind of the hindrance of us running a little faster and sitting on the pole again today like we did last year. Great effort, the guys did a good job on qualifying second today. We can see the front, at least, and we’ll get good pit selection. We’ll work on keeping our track position all day tomorrow.”
 
Busch’s JGR teammates – Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry, and Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry – qualified 14th  and 23rd , respectively. Logano stopped the clock in 70.269 seconds at 125.518 mph, while Hamlin posted a time of 70.515 seconds and 125.080 mph.
 
Juan Pablo Montoya captured his ninth career Sprint Cup pole and second in a row by posting a track record lap of 69.438 seconds at 127.020 mph. This was Montoya’s first Sprint Cup pole on a road course, and he bested the previous track qualifying record of 69.767 seconds at 126.421 mph set by Busch last August.
 
Jimmie Johnson qualified third (69.490 seconds at 126.925 mph), while Brad Keselowski (69.654 seconds at 126.626 mph) and Marcos Ambrose (69.710 seconds at 126.524 mph) rounded out the top-five.
 
With only 43 drivers attempting to qualify for the 43-car field, all will start the Finger Lakes 355k at The Glen.
 
As far as manufacturers went, qualifying was a model of parity. Chevrolet took the top spot via Montoya’s pole run. Toyota was next-best at the hands of Busch. Dodge was the third-fastest make thanks to Keselowski. Ambrose carried the flag for Ford.
 
The Finger Lakes 355k at The Glen gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT on Sunday with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with a pre-race show at noon.