NASCAR: “Shut it Down, Shut it Down!”
“Shut it Down, Shut it Down!” - the sage advice of Québec native Patrick Carpentier’s Crew/Car Chief after his first lap at NHMS landed the #10 GEM Dodge on the pole position.
“It’s amazing,” said Carpentier, “The car was great. We made a couple of changes from this morning and the car just rotated beautifully through the middle of the corner. It was just stuck on the track. I’m real happy.”
Just as surprising, Carpentier led three other go or go homers who all qualed within the top ten.
Bobby Labonte made it an all-Dodge front row by putting the Petty Enterprises #43 entry outside the front row. Kevin Harvick, Scott Riggs and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top five.
IN OTHER NEWS YOU CAN LOSE:
In what must be a major disappointment of the week New Hampshire Motor Speedway will be a Pachyderm Free Zone this Sunday.
DAMN red (gray?) tape! Who’da ever thunk elephants were covered under the Mann Act! “We are dealing with a maniac. He is responsible for kidnapping, the Mann Act, and assaults on over twenty of our brother officers.” - Buford T. Justice. (Whoops, sorry, wrong Act - ed)
Casey Mears is a lame duck and Clint Bowyer has signed 3-year contract extension with RCR. Greg Biffle has done the same with Roush-Fenway as all the little contract ducks are lining up in a neat little row.
Well, almost all. There’s still Truex Jr. and Ryan Newman swinging in the wind and the Tony Stewart intrigue to be resolved.
While the Sprint Cup qualifying made it through a rain delay, that wasn’t the case during the earlier session for the Camping World Series East Heluva Good! 125.
Tonight’s starting line-up will roll-off in the order of current points standings giving Austin Dillon the pole with Brian Ickler outside of Row one. Steve Park and Matt Kobyluck will be on Row two, with Jeffery Earnhardt and Trevor Bayne on Row three. Marc Davis, Jesus Hernandez, Rogelio Lopez and Eddie MacDonald finish the top ten.
Technorati Tags: Dale Earnhardt, Casey Mears, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Auto Racing, Sprint Cup Series, Jimmie Johnson
Carpentier has been great in qualifying lately, but he still can’t seem to translate it into good finishes on race day. But he’s definitely making progress.
In fact, I’d say that he and Scott Speed are the two open-wheel refugees with the most promise for next season.