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While Jamie McMurray has slowly been regaining contending form; he surprised some NASCAR folks with a pole run at the Sonoma Raceway road course.
McMurray turned a lap at 94.986 mph, in a Chevrolet, during Saturday's qualifying at the 1.99- mile road course. It was his ninth career Sprint Cup pole but his first since March 2011.
"I felt like I've always raced really well here," McMurray said of a venue to get back in to Victory Lane.
"For me, the last restarts have really got me. When you have a restart at this track, guys go from top-five to 30th in about 20 seconds. It can be a track that if you have a caution at the end, you can lose a lot," he said.
Another reason for optimism was his pole here in 2007.
This was the first time NASCAR's premier division adopted a new rule for groups of five or six cars qualifying rather than single car runs.
"I thought the qualifying format was really good," McMurray said. "You get to gap yourself from the guys who are in front of you and take it pretty easy. It was very similar to practice, which I thought was good."
The Australian Ambrose, a V8 Supercar champion, was just slightly off the pole at 94.924 mph in a Ford. Ambrose had an engine problem even before his session began
"The motor quit running when I came to green flag, so I lost all of my momentum," Ambrose said. "I thought about bailing out of that lap and rolling around for a second lap, but I wasn't sure about engine temperatures. And the tires go away so fast. I didn't know if I had already stressed them out.
"So I just went for it and pretty much lost my mind there and was really mad. But it was good enough for front row."
Teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle will start third and fourth, respectively.
"I was really happy with the lap," Edwards said. "I made a couple of little mistakes, and I think I could have done better. But still, it's the best position I've had starting here."
Jacques Villeneuve, Boris Said and Ron Fellows are among those road-racing specialists competing in this race. Villeneuve qualified 22nd, Said 24th and Fellows 25th.
McMurray turned a lap at 94.986 mph, in a Chevrolet, during Saturday's qualifying at the 1.99- mile road course. It was his ninth career Sprint Cup pole but his first since March 2011.
"I felt like I've always raced really well here," McMurray said of a venue to get back in to Victory Lane.
"For me, the last restarts have really got me. When you have a restart at this track, guys go from top-five to 30th in about 20 seconds. It can be a track that if you have a caution at the end, you can lose a lot," he said.
Another reason for optimism was his pole here in 2007.
This was the first time NASCAR's premier division adopted a new rule for groups of five or six cars qualifying rather than single car runs.
"I thought the qualifying format was really good," McMurray said. "You get to gap yourself from the guys who are in front of you and take it pretty easy. It was very similar to practice, which I thought was good."
The Australian Ambrose, a V8 Supercar champion, was just slightly off the pole at 94.924 mph in a Ford. Ambrose had an engine problem even before his session began
"The motor quit running when I came to green flag, so I lost all of my momentum," Ambrose said. "I thought about bailing out of that lap and rolling around for a second lap, but I wasn't sure about engine temperatures. And the tires go away so fast. I didn't know if I had already stressed them out.
"So I just went for it and pretty much lost my mind there and was really mad. But it was good enough for front row."
Teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle will start third and fourth, respectively.
"I was really happy with the lap," Edwards said. "I made a couple of little mistakes, and I think I could have done better. But still, it's the best position I've had starting here."
Jacques Villeneuve, Boris Said and Ron Fellows are among those road-racing specialists competing in this race. Villeneuve qualified 22nd, Said 24th and Fellows 25th.