In what was the most bizarre qualifying session of the season the NASCAR Sprint Cup series on Friday set the field for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
With weather threatening for most of the day, there was some uncertainty that qualifying would even be held.
Ryan Newman would be the last driver out as he was the quickest in the first and only practice of the day.
The strane session hit its stride with Brian Vickers on the pole but Mother Nature had a whole different plan.
With it misting for about 10-15 minutes prior to Juan Pablo Montoya’s run, the rain began to pick up. Montoya was unwilling to take his lap knowing that any water on the track could hurt his qualifying effort.
NASCAR worked on drying the track but the rain persisted. Montoya was one of the five fastest in practice. Behind him waiting were Jimmie Johnson, Jeff Gordon, Kasey Kahne and Newman were in line to go.
NASCAR communicated with the teams and finally after drying the track Montoya went out reluctantly. His first lap was slow and his second lap was not much better. He wound up qualifying 31st but it was Newman who only needed one lap to earn his sixth career pole.
The top 10 were as follows Newman, Kahne, Vickers, Greg Biffle, Kurt Busch, Kevin Harvick, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex, Jr. and Johnson.
Denny Hamlin qualified 28th the worse of all the Chasers. For the second week in a row the Chasers are spread out throughout the field.
Still the top 10 has six drivers starting in the top 10.
Some other notable qualifiers Bobby Labonte will start 15th, Mark Martin, 21st and Dave Blaney in 22nd.
Two drivers did not qualify, TJ Bell and Steve Park.
For the complete race lineup click here.
The Sylvania 300 is Sunday, 2pm ET on ESPN.
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