Montoya takes Indianapolis pole

Date published : 24 Jul 2010 - 17:18:13

Juan Pablo Montoya claimed pole position for Sunday's Brickyard 400 following dominant showings during both practice and qualifying.The Colombian was fastest in both of Friday's practice sessions and he then backed that up on his qualifying lap Saturday morning, setting the benchmark time at 49.475s, at an average speed of 182.278 mph. The Earnhardt Ganassi driver was the seventh one out to complete his run, which stood unbeaten for the rest of the session.The former Indianapolis 500 winner achieved his first ever pole at the venue, which makes it three front-row starts in four Brickyard 400 starts for him. While speaking after his pole, he reminded reporters that the first time he drove a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series car had come at Indy in 2003 while in his Fprmula 1 days, when he swapped cars with Jeff Gordon and drove around the venue's purpose-built F1 track."It's funny because when we did that Jeff Gordon swap here, they wanted to run the oval and I said 'there's no way in hell I'm going to drive the oval in a Cup car' and here I am on pole," said Montoya."It was a good lap. I think in [Turn] 2 I got a little bit tight and I had to come free a little bit getting off, but it wasn't a major deal. I don't think I made up any time but I don't think I really lost that much of a lap time there. Everywhere else was pretty good I thought. It was a good lap."The car is pretty good. We came here and tested and when we got off the truck the car was good. Now we just need to make sure we execute right and see what happens."While Montoya will be hoping to make amends for last year's race, when a speeding penalty on his final stop prevented him from winning after leading from lap one, reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will start alongside him trying to make it three in a row at Indianapolis, having won the last two Brickyard events. He came closest to Montoya's time and secured an all-Chevy front row, trailing the pole sitter by 37 thousandths of a second.Johnson's Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Mark Martin was third despite a late qualifying draw, which meant a hotter track, while the second Earnhardt Ganassi Chevy of Jamie McMurray was fourth. Stewart-Haas' Ryan Newman rounded out the top five, as Greg Biffle broke into the Chevy domination by placing his Roush Fenway Ford in sixth, ahead of four-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon.The Richard Childress Racing Chevrolets of points leader Kevin Harvick and his team-mate Jeff Burton rounded out the top 10 ahead of the fastest Dodge of Penske's Brad Keselowski and the quickest Toyota of Michael Waltrip's Martin Truex Jr.Indy-returnee Jacques Villeneuve claimed the final spot for the non-guaranteed drivers in his Braun Racing Toyota, and will start last in what will be his third ever Sprint Cup series start."It's very exciting," said the former F1 world champion and Indianapolis 500 winner. "It was very stressful because we didn't get a lot of laps. It was the first time the team has come here and it was a new car. And I hadn't been in a Cup car in over two years. It was a bit stressful. but it turned out fine."David Gilliland, Casey Mears, David Stremme and JJ Yeley failed to make the field for Sunday's race.Pos Driver Car Speed Time Gap 1. Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 182.279 49.375s 2. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 182.142 49.412s + 0.037s 3. Mark Martin Chevrolet 181.803 49.504s + 0.129s 4. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 181.748 49.519s + 0.144s 5. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 181.741 49.521s + 0.146s 6. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 181.518 49.582s + 0.207s 7. Greg Biffle Ford 181.353 49.627s + 0.252s 8. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 181.251 49.655s + 0.280s 9. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 181.210 49.666s + 0.291s10. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 181.156 49.681s + 0.306s11. Brad Keselowski Dodge 180.883 49.756s + 0.381s12. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 180.730 49.798s + 0.423s13. Matt Kenseth Ford 180.571 49.842s + 0.467s14. Kurt Busch Dodge 180.426 49.882s + 0.507s15. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 180.382 49.894s + 0.519s16. AJ Allmendinger Ford 180.357 49.901s + 0.526s17. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 180.260 49.928s + 0.553s18. Denny Hamlin Toyota 180.249 49.931s + 0.556s19. Carl Edwards Ford 180.220 49.939s + 0.564s20. Landon Cassill Chevrolet 180.213 49.941s + 0.566s21. Robby Gordon Toyota 180.155 49.957s + 0.582s22. Regan Smith Chevrolet 180.047 49.987s + 0.612s23. Kyle Busch Toyota 179.845 50.043s + 0.668s24. Kasey Kahne Ford 179.791 50.058s + 0.683s25. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 179.590 50.114s + 0.739s26. Paul Menard Ford 179.497 50.140s + 0.765s27. Elliott Sadler Ford 178.962 50.290s + 0.915s28. David Ragan Ford 178.916 50.303s + 0.928s29. David Reutimann Toyota 178.891 50.310s + 0.935s30. Scott Speed Toyota 178.884 50.312s + 0.937s31. Bill Elliott Ford 178.845 50.323s + 0.948s32. Reed Sorenson Toyota 178.838 50.325s + 0.950s33. Joe Nemechek Toyota 178.834 50.326s + 0.951s34. Joey Logano Toyota 178.781 50.341s + 0.966s35. Max Papis Toyota 178.621 50.386s + 1.011s36. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 178.377 50.455s + 1.080s37. Michael McDowell Toyota 178.341 50.465s + 1.090s38. Travis Kvapil Ford 178.013 50.558s + 1.183s39. Todd Bodine Toyota 177.890 50.593s + 1.218s40. Dave Blaney Toyota 177.578 50.682s + 1.307s41. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 175.562 51.264s + 1.889s42. Kevin Conway Ford 175.179 51.376s + 2.001s43. Jacques Villeneuve Toyota 177.466 50.714s + 1.339sRetirements: David Gilliland Ford 176.783 50.910s + 1.535s Casey Mears Chevrolet 176.626 50.955s + 1.580s David Stremme Ford 176.236 51.068s + 1.693s JJ Yeley Dodge