Nelson Piquet Jr. earned his first pole in the Nationwide Series at Road America. He beat the track record with a time of 2:13.07 (109.516 mph). With a few different qualifying rules, it was not an easy pole to gain, but Piquet is going to look for his first win to go along with the first pole of his career.
Like all road course races for the NASCAR Nationwide Series, the qualifying rules are way different. There are six groups of cars. The first group has 8 cars in it and the next five have six cars in them. The first cars to go out on the track are the slowest cars from practice and it continues on until the fastest cars from practice go out. Each driver also has a chance to run three laps to get the best time they can get, unlike ovals where the driver only gets two laps. The only similar thing is that each driver wants the fastest time and only one can get it. On this day, that was Nelson Piquet Jr.
Nelson Piquet Jr. went out in the last group of the day. He had to compete with the fastest drivers at the track to get the pole. He was able to do that with ease. The second place driver, Michael McDowell, was 3 tenths behind Piquet in time. After all was said and done, the last group swept the top 5 spots for the race, but other teams were left scratching their heads. Thanks to all of these things and more, the race should be one of the best of the year.
(More stats down below!)
Groups:
1st Group: Matt Frahm, Tim Schendel, Chase Miller, T.J. Bell*, Casey Roderick, Ryan Ellis, Jeff Green, and Kyle Kelley
2nd Group: Timmy Hill, Matthew Bell, Josh Richards, Bill Prietzel, Tony Raines, Morgan Shepherd, and Erik Darnell
3rd Group: Alex Kennedy, Matt DiBenedetto, John Young, Kenny Habul, Mike Wallace, Eric McClure, and Tayler Malsam
4th Group: Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Elliott Sadler, Mike Bliss, Jeremy Clements, Kurt Busch, Austin Dillon, and Victor Gonzalez Jr.
5th Group: Justin Allgaier, Brian Scott, Jason Bowles, Brad Sweet, Danica Patrick, Cole Whitt, and Michael Annett
6th Group: Jacques Villeneuve, Nelson Piquet Jr., Max Papis, Michael McDowell, Ron Fellows, Sam Hornish Jr., and Miguel Paludo
(*: T.J. Bell did not pass through inspection in time to make a qualifying run.)
Fastest Driver From Each Group:
1st Group: Kyle Kelley 2:16.73 (106.584 mph)
2nd Group: Timmy Hill 2:17.64 (105.875 mph)
3rd Group: Alex Kennedy 2:16.19 (107.000 mph)
4th Group: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2:14.70 (108.185 mph)
5th Group: Brian Scott 2:14.19 (108.596 mph)
6th Group: Nelson Piquet Jr. 2:13.07 (109.516 mph)
Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Nelson Piquet Jr. 2:13.07 (109.516 mph)
2nd: Michael McDowell 2:13.38 (109.258 mph)
3rd: Ron Fellows 2:13.64 (109.044 mph)
4th: Jacques Villeneuve 2:13.67 (109.020 mph)
5th: Miguel Paludo 2:13.80 (108.916 mph)
Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
10th: Danica Patrick 2:14.68 (108.207 mph)
11th: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 2:14.70 (108.185 mph)
13th: Elliott Sadler 2:14.96 (107.977 mph)
22nd: Kurt Busch 2:16.82 (106.509 mph)
23rd: Austin Dillon 2:17.00 (106.368 mph)
DNQs: None
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nationwide.nascar.com/nationwide-series/races/2012/qual_order/14/
http://www.jayski.com/nationwide/2012/pdfs/nns-14roadamerica2012lineup.pdf
-Photo:
http://www.nascarbrasil.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/nascar-brasil.jpg
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