Gordon wins pole for Cheez-It 355 at the Glen

Jeff Gordon scored his first road course pole since 2005 and starts out front for Sunday’s race at Watkins Glen.  Gordon laid down a lap of 68.126 seconds (129.466 mph) in the final round of qualifying.

“That last lap, I had no idea where that came from,” Gordon said.  “I did not think it was that good of a lap.  I knew it was a good lap, I didn’t think it was that good.”

The pole was the 75th of his career for the Sprint Cup Series points leader.  Gordon hasn’t won a road course race since Sonoma in 2006, but has been close on several occasions there.  The last time the Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) driver had a shot to win at Watkins Glen was 2007, when he was leading with two laps to go and spun in turn one.

Marcos Ambrose set the new track qualifying record at Watkins Glen International in the first round with a speed of 129.491 mph.  Ambrose couldn’t knock off Gordon in the final round and will start next to the four-time Cup champ.

“He is a fantastic road race and I have watched a lot of races here where he dominated,” Ambrose said of Gordon.  “He is having a standout year.”
Ambrose is running in today’s Zippo 200 and will look to become the first driver to score the weekend sweep at Watkins Glen.

Gordon’s Hendrick Motorsports (HMS) teammate, Jimmie Johnson, put up a sporty lap in qualifying by slotting in third in the final round.

“Very, very fast race car,” Johnson said.  “We unloaded strong and found something really good for race trim.  We really copied the 88’s Q(qualifying) setup and it had a lot of speed.”

Four of the top five cars had Hendrick engines as Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Kevin Harvick and Kurt Busch completed the top five.  Harvick led the first practice session on Friday and has one Cup win at the Glen in 2006.  Busch has yet to win a Cup race there, but has two NNS wins.

Justin Allgaier was the highest rookie driver by qualifying 15th in his No. 51 Harry Scott Motorsports Chevrolet.  Defending race winner Kyle Busch will roll off from the 19th position as he looks to add his third Cup win at the 2.45 mile road course.  Busch’s Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Matt Kenseth led the organization with an eighth-place run.

Danica Patrick’s struggles continued by qualifying last for Sunday’s race.

The green flag for the Cheez-It 355 at the Glen will drop around 1:15 p.m. ET on Sunday with live TV coverage of the race being on ESPN.

Cheez-It 355 at the Glen Starting Lineup

1. #24 Jeff Gordon
2. #9 Marcos Ambrose
3. #48 Jimmie Johnson
4. #4 Kevin Harvick
5. #41 Kurt Busch
6. #47 A.J. Allmendinger
7. #88 Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
8. #20 Matt Kenseth
9. #2 Brian Scott
10. #31 Ryan Newman
11. #22 Joey Logano
12. #55 Brian Vickers
13. #14 Tony Stewart
14. #1 Jamie McMurray
15. #51 Justin Allgaier
16. #99 Carl Edwards
17. #11 Denny Hamlin
18. #26 Cole Whitt
19. #18 Kyle Busch
20. #27 Paul Menard
21. #17 Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
22. #13 Casey Mears
23. #42 Kyle Larson
24. #15 Clint Bowyer
25. #78 Martin Truex, Jr.
26. #34 David Ragan
27. #43 Aric Almirola
28. #16 Greg Biffle
29. #95 Michael McDowell
30. #5 Kasey Kahne
31. #3 Austin Dillon
32. #77 Nelson Piquet, Jr.
33. #38 David Gilliland
34. #32 Boris Said
35. #83 Ryan Truex
36. #23 Alex Bowman
37. #98 Josh Wise
38. #33 Alex Kennedy
39. #36 Reed Sorenson
40. #66 Joe Nemechek
41. #40 Landon Cassill
42. #7 Michael Annett
43. #10 Danica Patrick

 

Kyle Magda