#12-Ryan Newman won the Budweiser Pole for the Batman Begins 400 at Michigan International Speedway with a new track qualifying record of 194.232mph [the old record was from June 2001 by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 191.149]. Twenty-six drivers broke the track record. The pole is Newman’s 5th of 2005 and 32nd of his 131 races. Rounding out the top-5 are: #41-Casey Mears, #20-Tony Stewart, #9-Kasey Kahne and #19-Jeremy Mayfield. #7-Robby Gordon was the fastest of the non top-35 drivers, qualifying 8th. #91-Bill Elliott will start 10th. The highest starting Ford is #97-Kurt Busch at 13th. #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr., ill with the flu, didn’t fare too well, running the 42nd fastest lap and will start 41st via owners points. #51-Stuart Kirby makes his first 2005 start. Missing the race: #92-McClure, #79-Cope, #34-Jones and #89-Shepherd.
TV: for some reason [again] qualifying was not on live TV, but can be seen via tape at 5:30pm/et on FX, leading up to the Busch race at Kentucky.
See my Jayski’s Starting Grid/Qualifying/Practice Results Page for pole progression, qualifying results, starting lineup and links.(6-18-2005)
