Denny Hamlin sets track record to take Food City 500 pole at Bristol

By Mar 14, 2014, 6:22 PM EDT
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Denny Hamlin spoiled the bid by Penske Racing teammates Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski to share the starting front row for the third straight race during Friday’s Sprint Cup qualifying for Sunday’s Food City 500.

Hamlin and his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry set a new Bristol Motor Speedway qualifying record with a speed of 129.991 mph (at 14.761 seconds).

It marked was the third straight Sprint Cup race this season that a new track qualifying mark has been set.

“It’s fast, faster than I ever imagined going around this track,” Hamlin said. “Darian (crew chief Darian Grubb) just made an excellent call with our adjustments and the team stepped up. … We thought it was going to be one and done for us, one good effort in that final round.”

Keselowski went out for a last-ditch attempt and rallied to knock off Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, from the outside pole with a lap of 129.965 mph (14.764 seconds).

“Denny did a great job,” Keselowski said. “My team did a great job and another front row start. That’s always good at Bristol because track position is important.

“But more important than track position is pit stall selection, so we’ll get a good pit stall out of that and go racing to the front.”

Keselowski and teammate Joey Logano have owned pole qualifying in the last two races. Keselowski took the pole and Logano was second at Phoenix, while it was reversed last week at Las Vegas, with Logano qualifying first and Keselowski second.

Kenseth will start Sunday’s race third (129.073 mph), Logano fourth (128.830) and Marcos Ambrose came through with a stout (128.727) effort.

Current Sprint Cup Series leader and Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 14th (128.271).

The news was not so good for four drivers who were forced to take provisionals to make the race: Tony Stewart, Brian Vickers, Travis Kvapil and Ryan Truex.

Here’s the starting grid and each driver’s qualifying speed for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Food City 500:

Row 1

Denny Hamlin 129.991, Brad Keselowski 129.965

Row 2

Matt Kenseth 129.073, Joey Logano 128.830

Row 3

Marcos Ambrose 128.727, Jeff Gordon 128.245

Row 4

Kyle Busch 128.159, Greg Biffle 127.946

Row 5

Ryan Newman 127.801, Kasey Kahne 127.690

Row 6

Jimmie Johnson 127.385, Carl Edwards 127.073

Row 7

Kurt Busch 128.322, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 128.271

Row 8

Clint Bowyer 128.245, David Gilliland 128.236

Row 9

Jamie McMurray 128.168, Cole Whitt 127.929

Row 10

David Ragan 127.903, Kyle Larson 127.792

Row 11

Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 127.682, AJ Allmendinger 127.648

Row 12

Aric Almirola 127.605, Michael McDowell 127.605

Row 13

Casey Mears 127.597, Austin Dillon 127.529

Row 14

Kevin Harvick 127.444, Paul Menard 127.436

Row 15

Martin Truex Jr. 127.351, Justin Allgaier 127.343

Row 16

Landon Cassill 127.182, Josh Wise 127.174

Row 17

Alex Bowman 127.165, Michael Annett 126.896

Row 18

Reed Sorenson 126.645, Danica Patrick 126.628

Row 19

Tony Stewart 126.545, Brian Vickers 126.445

Row 20

Travis Kvapil 126.303, Ryan Truex 125.363

Row 21

Parker Kligerman 124.460, Joe Nemechek 122.537

Row 22

Timmy Hill 122.084

Did not qualify: David Reutimann, Dave Blaney

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Ford Mustang GT3 test has Austin Cindric dreaming of Daytona: ‘I want to drive that car’

By Mar 22, 2023, 2:30 PM EDT
Cindric Ford GT3 test
Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images
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Austin Cindric wasn’t the “mystery” test driver behind the wheel of the new Ford Mustang GT3 at Sebring International Raceway, but the Team Penske driver desperately wanted to be.

Ford CEO Jim Farley, an amateur sports car driver himself, made the big reveal via a Tuesday tweet that provided the first video evidence of the GT3 Mustang on track.

“I’ve watched the video in question about a million times,” Cindric said Wednesday during a Ford Performance Zoom news conference to promote NASCAR’s first road course weekend of the season at Circuit of the Americas. “Definitely exciting times for sure. I want to drive that car. It suits my experience level and also the relationships that I have.”

Ford will enter the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next season with its GT3 Mustang, entering a two-car factory effort (that will be managed by Multimatic) in GTD Pro and making customer cars available in the GT Daytona category.

That increases the likelihood of seeing more NASCAR drivers crossing over to IMSA. Cindric has been the only full-time Cup driver in the Rolex 24 at Daytona the past two years, but Ford Performance global director Mark Rushbrook has said the GT3 Mustang will provide more opportunities.

Ford has used its GT4 Mustang as a NASCAR driver development tool in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge with Harrison Burton and Zane Smith combining to win the season opener at Daytona International Speedway in January.

“We’re excited about the Next Gen car and the new architecture there and the similarities between that car and GT3 and even GT4 cars,” Rushbrook said at the announcement of the Ford GT3 program in January 2022 at Daytona. “We think it’s a great opportunity and to do be able to do that in a 24-hour race and get NASCAR drivers even more time is something we need to consider taking advantage of that opportunity.”

Given his sports car background, Cindric probably still would be in the Rolex 24 regardless. He has eight IMSA starts since the 2017 season opener at Daytona, racing a Lexus RCF GT3 and Mercedes-AMG GT3 in the GT category. The 2022 Daytona 500 winner made his second LMP2 start this year with Rick Ware Racing.

But Cindric’s preference naturally would be in a Ford, particularly with sports car racing enjoying convergence and crossovers in both GT and prototype racing.

“It’s an exciting time in GT racing, just as it is now for prototype racing with a lot of new regulations and manufacturers building new GT3 cars,” he said. “And also the opportunity with WEC (the World Endurance Championship) and Le Mans and how that all lines up for that category of car. It’s definitely an exciting time. I want to be as much of a part of that as possible.”

Though those odds seemingly will increase with multiple Ford entries in the Rolex 24 field next year, Cindric said NASCAR drivers still have to put in the networking to land rides as he has in recent years.

“Now how (the GT3 Mustang) relates to specifically NASCAR drivers and how often they want to be in the Rolex, could it be an influence? Absolutely, as far as the tie-in with the manufacturer,” Cindric said. “But the challenge and the drive and the logistics of getting an opportunity for a race like the Rolex 24 will be just as challenging as it always is to find your one-off ride for the race. At least from my experience, that’s what I still anticipate.”

It turned out the “mystery” test driver wasn’t from NASCAR (Farley revealed the driver to be 24 Hours of Le Mans winner Joey Hand after a fan asked whether it was Joey Logano).

But Cindric believes there could be more Cup drivers — and perhaps himself — behind the wheel of Mustang GT3s in the future.

“There’s definitely more of a pathway than I think there would be before as far as Ford drivers are concerned,” he said. “Hopefully, I’ll get the opportunity to drive that thing. It’s obviously a great looking car. That’s the first box you’ve got to check. And it’s cool (to have) a guy like Jim Farley, no doubt he’s a racer just as much as he is steering the ship for Ford. It’s cool to see he’s just as excited as the rest of us about it.”