McMurray Wins Coors Light Pole Award for Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway

Jamie McMurray won his second consecutive pole at Sonoma Raceway after a final run in the closing minutes of Knockout Qualifying with a track record qualifying speed of 96.350 mph. This is his third pole at Sonoma and his tenth series career pole.

McMurray is the eleventh different pole winner this season and his qualifying speed set the eleventh track record this year.

He spoke about the challenges of the new qualifying procedure, saying, “This Knockout Qualifying is just an emotional roller coaster, from not making it into the top twelve and then having to go out and bump your way in, to then being on the pole. There’s a lot of highs and lows that go into it.”

McMurray hopes to translate this pole into a better finish than his previous two poles that resulted in disappointing finishes of 37th and 25th.

“This race is about having good strategy and having a little bit of luck,” he explained. “It’s about not getting run into in Turn 4 or Turn 7 on a restart.  I’ve run enough races here that I’ve had every issue you could have.”

He concluded by stating, “You have to put it all together. You have to have good strategy, you have to have a good car and you have to make good decisions as a driver.”

AJ Allmendinger will start on the outside pole in second place. “

I felt like I put in two good laps out there. You can nitpick and say I lost a little bit here and there but Jamie put in a hell of a lap, congrats to him,” Allmendinger said.

McMurray’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, rookie Kyle Larson, qualified third. Larson was happy with his starting position but realizes that the race will provide an opportunity to improve and gain valuable experience.

“I’ve still got a lot more to learn, especially when I get a few laps on the tires,’’ Larson said. “I struggle with that. I’m sure I’ll learn a lot throughout the race. I’ve just got to try to stay out of trouble.’’

Carl Edwards and Kurt Busch round out the top five for Sunday’s starting lineup. Kevin Harvick, Ryan Newman, Brian Vickers, Paul Menard and Joey Logano complete the top ten starting positions. Danica Patrick and Casey Mears will start in eleventh and twelfth, respectively.

The teams were unsure what to expect with the new qualifying format at Sonoma but the two sessions ran smoothly with no on-track incidents. Surprisingly, no Hendrick Motorsports Cars advanced to the final round of top twelve drivers.

Other notables who did not advance to the last session include Matt Kenseth, Clint Bowyer, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Brad Keselowski.

Television pre-race coverage for Sunday’s Sprint Cup race will begin at 2 p.m. ET on TNT.  The green flag start is scheduled for approximately 3:19 ET.

Complete Starting Lineup for Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway

1 1 Jamie McMurray 96.350 74.354
2 47 AJ Allmendinger 96.088 74.557
3 42 Kyle Larson # 95.942 74.670
4 99 Carl Edwards 95.857 74.736
5 41 Kurt Busch 95.704 74.856
6 4 Kevin Harvick 95.655 74.894
7 31 Ryan Newman 95.616 74.925
8 55 Brian Vickers 95.574 74.958
9 27 Paul Menard 95.528 74.994
10 22 Joey Logano 95.417 75.081
11 10 Danica Patrick 95.414 75.083
12 13 Casey Mears 95.327 75.152
13 2 Brad Keselowski 95.617 74.924
14 20 Matt Kenseth 95.605 74.933
15 24 Jeff Gordon 95.552 74.975
16 11 Denny Hamlin 95.479 75.032
17 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 95.461 75.046
18 78 Martin Truex Jr. 95.451 75.054
19 16 Greg Biffle 95.432 75.069
20 18 Kyle Busch 95.378 75.112
21 14 Tony Stewart 95.308 75.167
22 48 Jimmie Johnson 95.296 75.176
23 9 Marcos Ambrose 95.247 75.215
24 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 95.136 75.303
25 15 Clint Bowyer 95.044 75.376
26 3 Austin Dillon # 95.028 75.388
27 38 David Gilliland 94.992 75.417
28 95 Michael McDowell 94.972 75.433
29 43 Aric Almirola 94.897 75.492
30 5 Kasey Kahne 94.865 75.518
31 34 David Ragan 94.793 75.575
32 26 Cole Whitt # 94.734 75.622
33 98 Josh Wise 94.568 75.755
34 83 Ryan Truex # 94.562 75.760
35 51 Justin Allgaier # 94.491 75.817
36 33 Alex Kennedy 94.147 76.094
37 40 Timmy Hill – DC1 94.012 76.203
38 23 Alex Bowman # 93.867 76.321
39 44 David Mayhew – DC2 93.741 76.423
40 36 Reed Sorenson 93.498 76.622
41 32 Boris Said 93.377 76.721
42 7 Michael Annett # 92.282 77.632
43 66 Tomy Drissi 91.115 78.626

 

 

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

Angela Campbell
Angela Campbell
A native of Charlotte, NC, Angela (Angie) was first introduced to racing by her father. An avid fan of NASCAR, she found a way to combine her love of racing with her passion for writing. Angie is also an award-winning member of the National Motorsports Press Association. Follow her on Twitter @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

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