Pocono pole is a 'Smoke' screen
LONG POND - Tony Stewart brought his car to a halt on pit road following his qualifying lap Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Fellow driver Juan Pablo Montoya was waiting there to greet him.
With his hands held palms up, Montoya leaned into the window, said something to Stewart, then walked away smiling.
"He just said, 'Wow, what was that?' " Stewart said. "I told him I just did what you would do."
What Stewart did was knock Montoya from the top spot and capture the pole for the Sunoco Red Cross Pennsylvania 500.
Stewart circled the 2.5-mile triangular track in his No. 14 Chevrolet in 52.511 seconds at 171.393 mph. After going four years without winning a pole, it is his second of the season. The other came at Texas in April.
It also is the 12th of his career and his second at Pocono - his other one here came in July 2000.
Last season, when qualifying for both Pocono races was rained out and the lineup was set by owners points, Stewart was slated to start both races from the pole. Both times, however, he crashed his car in Saturday practice, was forced to do to a backup car and started from the rear of the field.
"I'm not a qualifier. I admit, that has always been my weak suit," Stewart said. "Man, if you're going to pick a place where you want to have a good starting position, this is it because it's really important here at Pocono. If I don't go out like I did last year and crash the thing in Happy Hour, then we'll have a good starting spot."
Montoya settled for the No. 2 qualifying position alongside Stewart on the front row at 171.096 mph.
Following his disappointment last week in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis - Montoya led 86 laps but crashed on lap 145 of 160 and finished 32nd - his effort at Pocono on Friday proved to be a pick-me-up.
"It was a good lap. I got up to speed really well," Montoya said. "I seemed to get on the gas good, but I wasn't sure if I rolled good through the corners. Lots of times you can run wide open here and it makes a big difference.
"It's great. Last week was a rough week for the team. To rebound at a place where we don't run that well is nice."
For a brief time, it appeared as if it was going to be the Denny Hamlin show again at Pocono.
Hamlin was the 20th car to attempt qualifying and his lap of 170.371 mph bumped Jeff Gordon off the pole. Gordon has set the early pace at 170.222 mph and wound up qualifying fourth.
But Hamlin's time on the pole lasted just 52.602 seconds. That's the time it took Montoya, the next car out after Hamlin, to get around the track.
"I was happy with the time (52.826), but we were far off with the car's balance," said Hamlin, who will start Sunday's race from the third position.
"But this car has got a ton of speed. That's very encouraging because we know (today) we have a lot of practice to get it right."
Ultimately, Stewart would spoil Montoya's run three cars later.
"It felt good enough through turn one that I got on the radio after we got on the exit there and told (the crew) we were good so far on the start of it," Stewart said. "Then we got through the tunnel and felt like we made good time through the tunnel, so I just keyed it again and told them we were good through two (turns) at least. I didn't know how it was going to be through turn three, but I felt like I might have lost a little bit of time there, but got through there pretty good, too, apparently or better than I thought I guess. Got to the line and they told me the time and it was a good lap."
Ryan Newman, Stewart's teammate at Stewart-Haas Racing, qualified fifth. Rounding out the top 10 are Jimmie Johnson, AJ Allmendinger, Jeff Burton, Jamie McMurray and Mark Martin.
Contact the writer: swalsh@timesshamrock.com
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