Track record holder Ambrose rolls off last in Coors Light Pole Qualifying

Track Qualifying Record: Marcos Ambrose 06/17/12 35.4259 seconds / 203.241 mph
# Car Driver Team
1 47 Bobby Labonte KingsFord Charcoal Toyota
2 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Target Chevrolet
3 19 Scott Riggs Plinker Tactical Toyota
4 34 David Ragan Taco Bell Ford
5 15 Clint Bowyer 5-hour Energy Toyota
6 87 Joe Nemechek(i) Toyota
7 13 Casey Mears Valvoline NextGen Ford
8 2 Brad Keselowski Miller Lite / Luke Bryan Ford
9 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. # Fifth Third Ford
10 10 Danica Patrick # GoDaddy Chevrolet
11 21 Trevor Bayne(i) Motorcraft / Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford
12 31 Jeff Burton Cheerios Chevrolet
13 55 Mark Martin Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota
14 36 JJ Yeley Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
15 78 Kurt Busch Furniture Row / Serta Chevrolet
16 22 Joey Logano Shell Pennzoil Ford
17 27 Paul Menard Nibco / Menards Chevrolet
18 7 Dave Blaney Tommy Baldwin Racing Chevrolet
19 18 Kyle Busch Interstate Batteries Toyota
20 5 Kasey Kahne Pepsi Max Chevrolet
21 1 Jamie McMurray Advil Chevrolet
22 35 Josh Wise(i) MDS Transport Ford
23 83 David Reutimann Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota
24 30 David Stremme Lean1 Toyota
25 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Freight Toyota
26 29 Kevin Harvick Rheem Chevrolet
27 33 Landon Cassill(i) LittleJoesAutos.com Chevrolet
28 43 Aric Almirola Eckrich Ford
29 32 Timmy Hill # U.S. Chrome Ford
30 98 Johnny Sauter(i) Phil Parsons Racing Ford
31 39 Ryan Newman Quicken Loans / PTA Chevrolet
32 38 David Gilliland Long John Silver’s Ford
33 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. National Guard Youth Foundation Chevrolet
34 56 Martin Truex Jr. NAPA Auto Parts Toyota
35 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
36 14 Austin Dillon(i) Mobil 1 / Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
37 95 Scott Speed Leavine Family Racing Ford
38 20 Matt Kenseth Dollar General Toyota
39 93 Travis Kvapil Burger King / Dr Pepper Toyota
40 24 Jeff Gordon Standox Chevrolet
41 51 Brendan Gaughan(i) South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet
42 16 Greg Biffle First / 3M Ford
43 99 Carl Edwards Best Buy Geek Squad / Fastenal Ford
44 9 Marcos Ambrose DeWalt Ford

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Click here to watch live news conferences from Michigan on Friday, Aug. 16.

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

UNOH 200 entry list for Wednesday, August 21

Click here for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series entry list for the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Click here to watch the NASCAR Nationwide Series GarageCam at 1 p.m. ET.

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Hornish Jr., Kelly finish in top five in both sessions

Related: Full practice results

LEXINGTON, Ohio — AJ Allmendinger, a NASCAR Nationwide Series winner already this season on a road course, shot to the top of the leaderboard Thursday in the last of two practice sessions for the series’ inaugural race at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

Allmendinger drove the No. 22 Penske Racing Ford to a fast lap of 95.550 mph on the 13-turn, 2.258-mile road course in the two-hour, 30-minute second session. His speed was quicker than the early pace set by Michael McDowell in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Ford at 94.517 mph in the three-hour first practice.

Parker Kilgerman jumped to the second-fastest spot late in the second session, recording a 95.442 mph lap in the No. 77 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota. Owen Kelly clocked the third-fastest speed at 95.425 mph in the late session, but his No. 54 Gibbs Toyota entry ended the second practice on a flatbed trailer when his engine failed with 45 minutes left.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

McDowell remained consistent with a 95.143 mph lap, fourth-fastest in the second test group while Ohio native Sam Hornish Jr. completed the top five.
 
Austin Dillon, who leads the series by three more points than Hornish, was 10th-fastest in the morning session and 14th-best in the afternoon. Richard Childress Racing teammate Max Papis — the only driver in the field with a victory at Mid-Ohio, in the GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series in 2004 — was 11th-best early and 10th-best late in the RCR No. 33.
 
Marcos Ambrose, the only full-time Sprint Cup driver in the field, was fifth-fastest in the first session then ninth-best in the latter.
 
The series was allowed extra track time in advance of Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN), the first-ever event for a NASCAR national series on the 51-year-old circuit. An additional three hours of practice (in two sessions) is scheduled Friday with qualifying set Saturday morning before the 90-lap main event.
 
The test session was largely incident-free, save for Chad Hackenbracht damaging the rear of his No. 44 TriStar Motorsports entry in an off-course excursion and TJ Bell scraping the left side of his No. 42 Chevrolet. A handful of caution periods in the first session were triggered by stalled, out-of-gas cars as crews tried to stretch and determine their fuel window.

MORE:

WATCH: Kyle Busch
Final Laps

VIEW: Full Watkins
Glen coverage

WATCH: Watkins Glen
video highlights

WATCH: What Drives
the 5?

Greg Biffle’s championship hopes may rest on him

Although Greg Biffle can’t secure a spot in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup in Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 (1 p.m. ET, ESPN) at Michigan International Speedway, a strong performance can go a long way in helping him reach the postseason as a championship contender.
 
Biffle currently is seeded ninth in the standings, 181 points behind leader Jimmie Johnson, who last weekend at Watkins Glen clinched a spot in the Chase. More precariously, however, Biffle sits only four markers in front of Kurt Busch in the 11th position.
 
To say Biffle is on the bubble would be an understatement.
 
An early-race accident or middle-of-the-road performance at Michigan could knock him from the top 10 — and possibly even out of a provisional Wild Card position. Heading into the weekend, two-time race winner Kasey Kahne and Ryan Newman, who has one win, hold these spots. Biffle currently maintains a 22-point advantage over Newman for the second Wild Card.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

The good news for Biffle is that Michigan is one of his best tracks and he currently rides a two-race winning streak at the two-mile oval nestled in the Irish Hills an hour-and-a-half away from Detroit.
 
"I’m looking forward to Michigan; it would be three in a row if I can pull off another win," Biffle said. "I feel like one more win would lock us into the Chase."
 
While Biffle can’t secure a spot in the Chase with a victory at Michigan, it would put him in a great position to do so over the other three races remaining before the playoffs begin and could be the insurance he needs to claim a Wild Card spot if he does fall out of the top 10.
 
If Biffle is to find Victory Lane on Sunday, he’ll need to rely more on his success at the track than how he’s performed recently.
 
In 21 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at Michigan, he has notched four wins, 10 top fives and 13 top 10s. He twice has had back-to-back victories there, winning in the August 2004 race and June 2005 race. He duplicated that feat this past June after posting his third victory at the track last August.
 
More impressive, however, is that in those 21 starts, Biffle has finished all 21 races, finished on the lead lap in 20 and led at least one lap in 15. His 110.0 Driver Rating is tops at the track. He also leads all active drivers in the following categories: most laps in the top 15 (2,862), best average running position (8.2), faster early in a run (179.520 mph), fastest late in a run (175.542 mph), fastest on restarts (174.076 mph) and fastest green-flag speed (177.096 mph).   
 
Biffle’s average finishing position at Michigan is 11.3, which is his second-best average among tracks (10.1 at Kansas Speedway).
 
In the seven races following his June win at Michigan, however, his performance has been inconsistent and not where it needs to be if he’s to make a serious play for the NASCAR Sprint Cup title. He followed up his win with a strong eighth-place performance at Sonoma, but then finished 34th, 17th, 15th, 24th, 10th and 16th in subsequent races.
 
Not only has Biffle done well at Michigan, but his team, Roush Fenway Racing, has experienced great success there. Biffle’s June victory was a series track record 13th for owner Jack Roush, whose headquarters lies less than 100 miles east in Livonia.
 
Despite their success, Biffle and his team know Sunday won’t be a walk in the park and they’ll arrive focused and ready to go for that illustrious three-peat.
 
"Even though we’ve won the last two races, we can’t let our guard down," said Matt Puccia, Biffle’s crew chief. "The competition has changed quite a bit over the last few months."

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Hornish hopes to secure a win at Mid-Ohio this weekend for his home state

For the second week in a row the NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to a road course where anything can happen. This weekend, however, there’s something a bit different.

On Saturday, the series makes its inaugural visit to the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, for the Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). There is probably no driver more excited to visit the 2.4-mile track than Sam Hornish Jr., of Defiance, Ohio.

Not only is the track 2-1/2 hours east of his hometown, it’s a track he’s previously competed at. In 2007, he finished 14th in an IndyCar Series event at Mid-Ohio. The following season he turned his focus to NASCAR.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

Hornish currently is second in the standings, three points behind Austin Dillon. A win in front of his family and friends would mean more to the 34-year-old driver than a win at most any other track and would likely return him to the top of the standings, a position he held after each of the season’s first seven races and most recently after last month’s race at Chicagoland.

"We want to win, especially when we have a car that’s capable of winning," Hornish said. "Looking ahead to this weekend, we know what we have to do."

In seven road-course races in the series, Hornish has five consecutive top-five finishes and two poles, including a fifth-place showing at Road America in June and a runner-up performance last weekend at The Glen. This season, Hornish has one victory and five second-place showings in which he was the highest finishing points-eligible series regular.

"It will be something special to win this race in my home state," he said.

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Bowyer, Edwards eye automatic bids to postseason

Related: Sprint Cup Series standings

Jimmie Johnson clinched at least a Wild Card berth in the 2013 Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by virtue of his top-10 showing last week at Watkins Glen International.

Five-Time still might be the only driver qualified for the postseason after this week’s Pure Michigan 400 — that’s how dominant he’s been, and that’s how difficult this week’s scenarios are for a handful of drivers.

Below is a list of contenders who could qualify for the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

Clint Bowyer. Bowyer is second in the standings with 733 points, a full 75 points behind Johnson. With no wins to his credit this season, the driver of the No. 15 Toyota can still punch his ticket for the postseason on Sunday.

The magic number this weekend is 145, which means Bowyer — or any other driver — must be 145 points ahead of the driver in 11th place to clinch an automatic berth. The 11th-place driver right now is Kurt Busch, who has 623 points — 110 less than Bowyer.

So Bowyer would need a high finish (likely a win), and then have most drivers in the 11th-place range struggle terribly.

Carl Edwards. Like Bowyer, Edwards can clinch an automatic berth in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup by leaving Michigan with a 145-point edge over the 11th-place driver.

He’ll have an even more difficult time clinching than Bowyer, considering he’s currently 105 points ahead of Busch, 40 points away from the 145-point threshold.

Matt Kenseth. Kenseth is too far down the standings (seventh place) to clinch an automatic berth, but can almost certainly clinch at least a Wild Card berth with a win. A victory would be Kenseth’s fifth of the season — his four wins is tied with Johnson for the most this year.

A win wouldn’t absolutely guarantee Kenseth a Wild Card spot, though. It depends on the points other drivers accrue because Kenseth, mathematically, could possibly still finish outside the top 20 in the points at the end of the season. The Wild Card only goes to drivers from 11th-20th place.

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan

Drivers switch roles as Austin Dillon replaces Tony Stewart this week

LEXINGTON, Ohio — Though NASCAR vehicles only have ignition switches unlike their street-legal brethren, you can almost imagine the swapping of front and passenger seats and the tossing of keys from Max Papis to Austin Dillon in handing over the wheel of the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet this week.

“We don’t have the keys,” Papis said. “Actually there’s only one seat in the car.”

So much for dream sequences. Either way, the virtual handing over of the virtual keys from Papis last week at Watkins Glen to Dillon this weekend at Michigan International Speedway signifies a golden "pinch me" opportunity for both Richard Childress Racing drivers to shine in quality NASCAR Sprint Cup Series equipment, though neither relish the circumstances as substitutes while the injured Tony Stewart heals from injuries suffered Aug. 5 in a sprint car wreck.

The circumstances being what they are, the opportunity remains to carry the banner for Stewart and perhaps make a positive impression along the way.

FULL SERIES COVERAGE

View all articles
View all videos
View all photos

“This is one of the coolest things in my entire life to have this opportunity,” Dillon said Thursday from Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, site of Saturday’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital 200 (2:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Dillon currently leads the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings, but will be pulling double duty on the Sprint Cup side Sunday at Michigan.

“I think it’s very cool that they talked to my grandfather (Childress) first, and that was even more special for all the hard work that he’s put into my career,” he added. “I’m so excited. Just ready to get there and learn and be able to soak up all the information that I can with those guys who have so much experience.”

Papis can certainly share what it’s like to be a fill-in for the charismatic owner-driver after piloting Stewart’s No. 14 to a 15th-place finish at Watkins Glen. He’s also helped to smooth the transition from one substitute to the next in working intimately with the Stewart-Haas Racing team.

Even though Dillon is still learning, Papis was firm in pointing out that every opportunity afforded his teammate and road-course pupil has been earned and not ordained.

“Obviously going into the Glen, it was a very tough situation — not on the technical side, but on the human side,” Papis said. “Think about it: All those guys who have been working for many years with Tony, then they’ve got someone else like me plugged in. I felt they did a really good job in keeping the atmosphere positive.

“In handing the torch to Austin, I think it really helped the fact that I spent a couple of weeks with them, and then know the relationship that’s with Austin — me and him — it definitely helped him to get up to speed and break that barrier that was there. What I told Austin is, ‘Look how far you came and how far I came, too.’ Getting an opportunity to drive for one of the best ever — triple champion, winning team, championship team. How I look at it is that it should really shut the mouth of all those people that said that Austin gets his ride only because he’s the grandkid of Mr. Childress. That should prove that ability is what drove both him and me to that place.”

Before Dillon makes his 10th career Sprint Cup start, the more pressing task is holding serve with his Nationwide Series points lead in the inaugural race on the 2.258-mile road course. He leads hometown favorite Sam Hornish Jr. by just three points, and only 18 points separate the first five drivers in the standings.

Dillon has a best finish of ninth place in five career road course races in the Nationwide Series, but Papis suggests he’s getting better. Sure enough, Dillon was faster than the veteran Papis — a competitor 11 times at Mid-Ohio — in the early practice.

“I was really pleased to see the progress — I call him my godson, only because I’m around him so much — that Austin is doing,” Papis said. “I have to really step it up this afternoon because he was actually better than me. I’m really pleased to see that.”

Said Dillon: “We’re making some good progress that we needed for our road course program. I think both Max and myself have gotten our cars better and that’s going to play big for us when we get here on Saturday.”

MORE:

WATCH: The Preview Show
for Michigan

WATCH: Up to Speed:
Vickers, Dillon in spotlight

WATCH: NASCAR Next:
Ryan Gifford

WATCH: Fantasy Showdown:
Previewing Michigan