With a time of 26.073 seconds (138.074 mph), Mark Martin captured the pole for the 2013 Subway Fresh Fit 500. He became the second oldest driver to win a pole in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series behind Harry Gant's pole win at Bristol in August 1994. With his 56th pole of his career, Mark Martin passed Bill Elliott for seventh all-time in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history for pole wins. It may seem like his pole win came easy, but Mark Martin had to dodge a lot of bullets.
Once again, the qualifying order was decided by a random draw. Ken Schrader drew the first spot in qualifying. He was not fast and ran the second slowest lap of the day, but he still made the race because only 43 cars attempted a run. It wasn't long before the first incident in qualifying occurred to Kurt Busch. On his second lap, he got loose coming into turn 1 and slid up the track. He was able to save it, but his tire began to rub. As he went into turn 3, he got loose once again, but this time he could not save it and slammed into the wall. He had minimal damage on the side and shouldn't have to go to a back-up car. The session continued on and the pole continued to move back and forth between drivers until Kasey Kahne ran his lap. He took the top spot and held it until the eventual polesitter, Mark Martin, grabbed the pole from the nineteenth spot out. To win the pole, he had to dodge such bullets as Matt Kenseth, Carl Edwards, Jimmie Johnson, and Ryan Newman. The session continued smoothly until two drivers had the same problems getting onto the track for their run. Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Burton both had trouble getting through the new laser part of inspection. Both drivers were able to get their cars through inspection and make their runs before the five minute clock ran out. In fact, Johnson was able to lay down a quick lap that almost put him on the front row.
With Jeff Burton's run, Mark Martin was awarded his pole and his spot for next year's Sprint Unlimited. Well, that is way away from now. The only thing on all the drivers' minds is to race on Sunday. With this pole, Mark Martin hopes that his momentum is high enough to carry him to a win on Sunday.
(More Stats Down Below!)
Top 5 Qualifiers (With Times):
1st: Mark Martin 26.073 (138.074 mph)
2nd: Kasey Kahne 26.113 (137.862 mph)
3rd: Jimmie Johnson 26.124 (137.804 mph)
4th: Kyle Busch 26.149 (137.673 mph)
5th: Jeff Gordon 26.246 (137.164 mph)
Notables Not in Top 5 (With Times):
6th: Tony Stewart 26.250 (137.143 mph)
7th: Kevin Harvick 26.263 (137.075 mph)
9th: Matt Kenseth 26.300 (136.882 mph)
11th: Brad Keselowski 26.309 (136.835 mph)
21st: Dale Earnhardt Jr. 26.496 (135.870 mph)
40th: Danica Patrick 27.090 (132.890 mph)
DNQs: None
Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://www.nascar.com/en_us/sprint-cup-series/leaderboard/leaderboard-qualification.html
http://www.jayski.com/stats/polewinners.htm
-Image
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