Brickyard 400 Qualifying Report
Date: July 28, 2012
Event: Brickyard 400 Qualifying (Round 20 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (49.244 seconds at 182.763 mph)
Kyle Busch: 7th (49.711 seconds at 181.046 mph)
Kyle Busch qualified seventh for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) turned a lap of 49.711 seconds at 181.046 mph on the 2.5-mile oval.
“The M&M’s Camry has been good since we unloaded,” said Busch, who has five top-10 finishes in seven Sprint Cup starts at Indianapolis. “Denny (Hamlin) laid down a heck of a lap there. We definitely have some speed in race trim, so I feel like it’s just a matter of trying to qualify up toward the front because we have a good car for tomorrow. This will be our best start here in a long time, so I’m pleased with that. Clouds make a big difference in qualifying on whether you get some cloud cover or not. We’ll be ready to go racing tomorrow and try to get our M&M’s Camry to victory lane.”
Busch’s JGR teammate – Denny Hamlin, driver of the No. 11 Toyota Camry captured the pole for Sunday’s Brickyard 400 by turning a lap of 49.244 seconds at 182.763 mph. It was Hamlin’s 11th career Sprint Cup pole, his second of the season and his first at Indianapolis.
Busch’s other JGR teammate, Joey Logano, driver of the No. 20 Toyota Camry, qualified third by posting a time of 49.517 seconds at 181.756 mph.
Carl Edwards will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 49.455 seconds at 181.984 mph. Logano, Aric Almirola (49.538 seconds at 181.679 mph) and Greg Biffle (49.578 seconds at 181.532 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-six drivers attempted to qualify for the Brickyard 400. Those not making the cut in the 43-car field were Reed Sorenson, Joe Nemechek, and Michael McDowell.
As far as manufacturers went, Toyota took the top spot via Hamlin’s pole run. Ford was next-best at the hands of Edwards, while Chevrolet was the third-fastest make thanks to sixth-quick Jimmie Johnson (49.626 seconds at 181.357 mph). Brad Keselowski (49.959 seconds at 180.148 mph), who qualified 22nd, carried the flag for Dodge.
The Brickyard 400 gets underway at 1 p.m. EDT Sunday with live coverage provided by ESPN beginning with its pre-race show at noon.
-TSC-
