BROOKLYN, MI— Just like old times at Michigan, Mark Martin is quick. This time, it’s not in a Jack Roush Ford, but in a Michael Waltrip Toyota.
Martin took the pole for Sunday’s Pure Michigan 400 at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway with a lap in 36.053 seconds with an average of 199.706 mph.
“Last time here we thought we had a car that we thought could contend for the pole and it just didn’t give me the right feel up to speed.
“It’s very important to have the feel you need so you can carry momentum into turn one,” said Martin after his lap.
This is the fourth pole of the season for the 53-year old Martin, and his first career pole at Michigan International Speedway.
“”I’m not a two lap kind of qualifying guy, but I really stretched the limits of my talent level qualifying in one lap. I pretty much know I can’t cheat it a second time.
“I tried to today because the first lap was good and it didn’t really have any issues. I tried to run a little quicker the second lap and I didn’t get past turn one.
“A wobble, and it wasn’t going to get it done.”
With his fourth pole of the season, Martin moves into a tie with Bill Elliott for seventh on the all-time pole list in the Cup Series with 55 career poles.
“It’s great when you drive a race car like that where you have what I believe is the fastest race car of the day. An incredible privilege for some at the stage of my career to be able to work with Toyota and Michael Waltrip Racing.”
Carl Edwards will start alongside Martin for Sunday’s race. The two will be followed by Jimmie Johnson, Matt Kenseth and Kasey Kahne to the green flag on Sunday.
Drivers were challenged during the qualifying session by both the track and the weather with clouds covering the speedway during parts of the session, allowing for drivers to set fast laps during the middle of the order.
Dave Blaney,who was the first car to attempt at a timed lap, was forced to abort his qualifying effort after a near scrape with the turn two wall.
Unlike Blaney, Almirola wasn’t as lucky as he crashed his No.43 Ford in the third turn. Almirola will go to a backup car for Sunday’s race.
45 cars attempted to make the race, which meant two cars failed to qualify.
JJ Yeley and Stephen Leicht were the unfortuante drivers that were not able to time their way into the starting field.
Pure Michigan 400 Starting Lineup:
1: Mark Martin
2: Carl Edwards
3: Jimmie Johnson
4: Matt Kenseth
5: Kasey Kahne
6: Trevor Bayne
7: Martin Truex Jr.
8: Marcos Ambrose
9: Landon Cassill
10: Paul Menard
11: Jeff Gordon
12: Clint Bowyer
13: Greg Biffle
14: Tony Stewart
15: Ryan Newman
16: Joey Logano
17: Parker Kligerman
18: Regan Smith
19: Brad Keselowski
20: Kevin Harvick
21: Denny Hamlin
22: Dale Earnhardt Jr.
23: Kyle Busch
24: Jamie McMurray
25: Juan Pablo Montoya
26: Kurt Busch
27: Reed Sorenson
28: Bobby Labonte
29: Casey Mears
30: Travis Kvapil
31: David Stremme
32: Jeff Burton
33: Jason Leffler
34: Josh Wise
35: Joe Nemechek
36: David Gilliland
37: David Ragan
38: Scott Riggs
39: Mike Skinner
40: David Reutimann
41: TJ Bell
42: Dave Blaney
43: Aric Almirola
