Bank of America 500 Qualifying
Date: Oct. 11, 2012
Event: Bank of America 500 Qualifying (Round 31 of 36)
Series: NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Location: Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Pole Winner: Greg Biffle of Roush Fenway Racing (27.877 seconds at 193.708 mph, a new track record)
Kyle Busch: 8th (28.001 seconds at 192.850 mph)
Kyle Busch qualified eighth for Saturday night’s Bank of America 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) turned a lap of 28.001 seconds at 192.850 mph on the 1.5-mile oval.
“The car drove really well, but I probably left a little out there on the track,” said Busch, who has scored nine top-10 finishes in his last 10 Sprint Cup starts at Charlotte. “We’ve been pretty happy with the car and we have a good plan for practice tomorrow, so we’ll get it ready and see what happens on Saturday night.”
Busch’s JGR teammates – Denny Hamlin in the No. 11 Toyota Camry and Joey Logano in the No. 20 Toyota Camry – qualified ninth and 12th, respectively. Hamlin cut a lap of 28.008 seconds at 192.802 mph, while Logano stopped the clock in 28.043 seconds at 192.561 mph.
Greg Biffle captured his 12th career Sprint Cup pole, his third of the season and his first at Charlotte by setting a new track qualifying record of 27.877 seconds at 193.708 mph. Biffle’s run bested the previous mark of 27.948 seconds at 193.216 mph set by Elliott Sadler on Oct. 15, 2005.
Mark Martin will start on the outside of row one as he timed in at 27.927 seconds at 193.361 mph. Ryan Newman was third (27.943 seconds at 193.251 mph), while Clint Bowyer (27.973 seconds at 193.043 mph) and Jimmie Johnson (27.980 seconds at 192.995 mph) rounded out the top-five.
Forty-seven drivers attempted to qualify for the Bank of America 500. The drivers not making the cut in the 43-car field were Joe Nemechek, Josh Wise, Scott Riggs and Cole Whitt.
Ford took the top spot among manufacturers via Biffle’s pole run. Toyota was next-best at the hands of Martin. Chevrolet was the third-fastest make thanks to Newman, while Sam Hornish Jr., carried the flag for Dodge with the 14th-quickest lap (28.174 seconds at 191.666 mph).
The Bank of America 500 gets underway at 7:30 p.m. EDT Saturday with live coverage provided by ABC beginning with its pre-race show at 7 p.m.
