(By Reid Spencer NASCAR Wire Service)
Posted: Saturday,March 27th, 2010
MARTINSVILLE, Va.—A one-point lead in the NASCAR Sprint Cup standings may be the slimmest of margins, but Friday’s qualifying rainout at Martinsville Speedway put Kevin Harvick in the best position to protect his advantage.
With the field ordered according to owner points under NASCAR’s rainout rules, Harvick will start from the pole in Sunday’s Goody’s Fast Pain Relief 500 with Matt Kenseth—one point in arrears through five races—beside him.
“Could be the worst-qualifying front row you’ve ever seen,” quipped Harvick, whose best previous start at Martinsville was third in 2007.
Kevin Harvick (Getty Images)
Harvick’s average starting position at Martinsville entering the weekend was 14.2. Kenseth’s was 23.8, and neither has won a race at the .526-mile short track.
Harvick also will start from the top spot in Saturday’s Kroger 250 Camping World Truck Series race, by virtue of rainout of Friday’s qualifying session, which was to have followed Cup time trials. For both races, he has the additional advantage of being able to choose pit stall No. 1, closest to the exit from pit road.
Jimmie Johnson, winner of three races this season and 14 points behind Harvick, will start third beside fourth-place Greg Biffle. Tony Stewart, Kurt Busch, Jeff Burton, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Paul Menard and Kyle Busch will line up sixth through 10th on the grid, respectively.
Johnson, who has won five of the last seven races at Martinsville (six overall) and has twice started from the pole in his career, acknowledged the value of the first pit stall.
“It’s (worth) at least a second,” Johnson said. “If you have a 14-second stop, and everybody (else) has a 13-second stop, you come out even. So it is a huge advantage. … Kevin does a good job, and his pit crew’s been real fast all day long, so I would expect him to make good use of this opportunity.”
Notes: Friday’s rainout was the first time qualifying has been canceled this season. … Under rainout rules, with the bottom of the field ordered by qualifying attempts (with owner points as a tiebreaker), Casey Mears, Terry Cook and Johnny Sauter failed to make the 43-car field. … Aric Almirola earned a start because the car he drives, the No. 09 Chevrolet owned by James Finch, was a race winner last year with Brad Keselowski behind the wheel at Talladega. He’ll start 37th. … Ryan Newman posted the fastest lap in practice on Friday, in qualifying trim, but will start 26th Sunday.
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