Auto Racing: Vickers goes from last to first in Texas
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Brian Vickers, the last of 50 drivers to make a qualifying attempt yesterday at Texas Motor Speedway, knocked off Elliott Sadler from the pole for NASCAR's Dickies 500 at Fort Worth, Texas, before Sadler had time to get out of his car.
Moments after Sadler posted a lap of 195.390 mph to bump Kurt Busch off the top spot for the Nextel Cup race tomorrow, Vickers, driving a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, topped them both with a sizzling 196.235 in a record-setting qualifying session.
The top four drivers surpassed the previous track record of 194.224, set by Bill Elliott in April 2002, and they attributed the faster speeds to qualifying ending with the sun going down and the track temperature cooling down considerably in the Texas evening.
"I hate it for Elliott, but this car was awesome," said Vickers, who earned his first pole of the season and the fourth of his career.
"This thing felt smooth all through practice. It was just smoking through [turns] three and four. That's about as close as you can get to being wide open at this place.
"The last-place draw was great, and not just because of the weather conditions," he added with a grin. "You know where you stand as soon as you qualify."
Sadler was pretty happy with his results despite winding up second.
"It was an exciting qualifying session," Sadler said. "I'm very happy with where we're starting and this is my favorite racetrack to come to. For some reason, it just fits my driving style."
Busch, who leads the series with six poles this season, also was happy with his showing, despite winding up third after leading with his lap of 194.854 until Sadler and Vickers took their turns.
"It definitely was one of the most exciting qualifying sessions of the year because of the speed and the draw that left some of the fastest cars to the end," said Busch, whose crew chief, Roy McCauley, was back with the team after a two-week suspension for using an unapproved shock absorber in qualifying a month ago at Charlotte.
"I'm just glad to have my crew chief back and looking forward to this Penske team finishing off the season strong," Busch said.
Among the drivers in the Chase for the championship, Kasey Kahne, who won the spring race at this track, was the fastest, running fourth at 194.812.
Kahne needs a virtual miracle to get back into the championship with three races to go, trailing leader Matt Kenseth by 210 points.
Kenseth gave everyone in the Chase a bit of hope by qualifying 36th, the slowest of the contenders.
Jimmie Johnson, who trails Kenseth by just 26 points, was fifth.
Busch
Mark Martin earned his 30th career Busch Series pole at Texas, while Juan Pablo Montoya will start 10th in his second NASCAR race. Montoya had a such a difficult time in practice that he worried about even qualifying for the race today. But his average qualifying speed of 189.813 mph in his Dodge was almost 7 mph faster than his best lap in the final practice. Martin, who has won three Busch races at Texas, extended his series record for career poles with a lap of 192.589 mph in his Ford.
Truck
Clint Bowyer had a dominating run at Texas, then held the lead after a green-white finish to win in only his third Craftsman Truck Series start. Bowyer led 103 of 148 laps and finished 0.279 seconds ahead of Kyle Busch, giving Chevrolet a 1-2 finish in a race that Toyota captured the manufacturer title on the strength of Mike Skinner's third-place finish.
First Published November 4, 2006 12:00 am
