Montoya On Pole For Brickyard 400
by Dan Margetta
7/24/2010

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Speedway, Ind., July 24 - Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmie Johnson provided the main storyline for last year's edition of the Brickyard 400 and both drivers were atop the headlines Saturday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as they occupied the front row following qualifications for the 2010 Brickyard 400.

Montoya, who dominated the race a year ago until a late race speeding penalty on pit road thwarted his efforts, took to the speedway early in the session and promptly captured the pole position with a trip around the famed speedway in 49.375 seconds at an average speed of 182.278 mph.

"It was a good lap," Montoya stated after nailing down his first NASCAR pole position at Indy, "I think in (Turn) 2, I got a little bit tight and I had to brake a little bit coming off, but I don't think it was a major deal everywhere else was pretty good." "We came here and tested and when we got off the truck, it was good, " Montoya continued, " And when we brought it here it was good, so we just have to make sure we do everything right tomorrow and see what happens."

Johnson, who a year ago benefited from Montoya's misfortune to score his third Brickyard 400 win in the last four years, fell just short of Montoya's time but his lap of 49.412 seconds was good enough for the outside front row starting spot at 182.142 mph.

"Track position is very important here and it's tough to pass," Johnson explained referring to the selection of pit stalls for the race which is conducted in order of qualifying times, "So in the scheme of things, I'm really happy with where we are and to have a good stall with our starting position."

"Yesterday I continued to make mistakes, "Johnson continued, " So I made sure today I did my job and maybe left a little on the table because I wanted to be very line specific and not make a mistake. Either way I'm very, very proud of the lap I ran today."

Mark Martin won the Brickyard pole position last year and despite a late draw which required him to qualify in the heat of the day, circled the speedway in an impressive 49.504 seconds at 181.803 mph to secure the third starting spot.

"It wasn't perfect but boy it was good," Martin reflected afterwards, " I had such a good race car it didn't have to be perfect , but it was a good lap. No mistakes just tried to get a little too much maybe in turn four and all."

Daytona 500 winner Jamie McMurray will start from the fourth position with a qualifying time of 48.519 seconds (181.748 mph) while Ryan Newman and Clint Bowyer turned late qualifying runs into fifth and sixth place starting spots respectively.

"I really felt our air pressure was a little bit off yesterday, so we adjusted on that today and the car just didn't come in quick enough," McMurray said, "I just couldn't get through (Turns) one and two on that first lap but we've got a good car for the race and hopefully we can have a mistake-free day and get the win."

Greg Biffle was the highest qualifying Ford driver and the only non-Chevrolet in the top ten after his conservative time trial lap of 49.627 at 181.353 mph left him seventh.

"That was a perfect lap for us, "Biffle stated, "I was a little nervous and I knew going out late the track is hot, so that was a conservative lap for me. I'm excited because I think this car could have been faster for sure."

Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick, and Jeff Burton rounded out the top ten qualifiers while Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. were the fastest Dodge and Toyota drivers in eleventh and twelfth respectively.

1995 Indianapolis 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve will make his NASCAR debut at Indianapolis as he was the final driver to make the field after J.J. Yeley provided some late drama by sliding into the turn two wall in the final attempt of the day. Marcos Ambrose was the only other driver to experience problems as he brushed the turn one wall on his attempt and will start 41st.





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