Weather makes tale of two quals at Brickyard

SPEEDWAY, Ind. -- Dark clouds had a silver lining for those lucky enough to take advantage of the weather Saturday in Bud Pole Qualifying for the Brickyard 400.

Drivers who drew one of the early runs had nearly perfect racing conditions -- cool and overcast. That's when Kevin Harvick led an all-out assault on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway record book.

No fewer than 11 cars eclipsed Tony Stewart's run of 182.960 mph from last year, but only two did it following the first of two short rain delays.

One of those was Ryan Newman, who will start Sunday's Brickyard 400 on the outside of the front row after turning a lap of 184.237 mph. He went out seventh.

"It was raining in Turns 3 and 4 when I qualified," Newman said. "I didn't think my time would stand up. I knew a lot of fast cars were coming. The track got faster with the rain and clouds coming in."

	Ryan Newman

Bill Elliott, the defending race winner, went out fourth and wound up third.

"It was a good run," Elliott said. "I was very pleased with the car. I don't know how I could go back out and run a better lap."

But once the sun came out and heated up the track, speeds fell off. John Andretti, fastest in Friday's practice, was 11th after scraping the wall on his first lap.

"I guess I needed to go out a little earlier when the cloud cover was out," Andretti said. "I just really tried to get through Turn 2 a little bit too aggressive. I've been struggling with Turn 2 a little bit. I ended up getting into the outside wall.

"I was disappointed in myself that I let that happen."

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Jimmie Johnson, another favorite for the pole, wound up ninth.

"I left a little on the table on my first lap, and my second lap was faster, so it's just hard to drive into Turn 1 and know exactly what you're going to have and what you're going to need," Johnson said. "It could have been a little better, but it's just a great starting spot for us compared to where we started last year."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. barely avoided having to use a provisional, qualifying 36th.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr.

"The car didn't handle good," Junior said. "It just didn't drive good, didn't feel good. It was just uncomfortable. It wasn't set up good enough, I guess. I just drove into the corner and didn't have the grip I needed and couldn't cut a fast lap."

Todd Bodine said the difference in the weather was a major factor.

"Once the sun came out, (the track) slowed down half a second, and those guys that went early had a big advantage," Bodine said. "This is probably the worst time of the day to have qualifying. They need to start it about noon. The track doesn't change a lot from noon to 2:30 or so, and that's when you need to be doing this, not at 10 o'clock in the morning."