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Thursday, 08 May 2008 19:00 |
 By: Jay W. Pennell
Sprint Cup Correspondent
HardcoreRaceFans.com
Tonight the stars of the Cup Series will hit the track “Too Tough To Tame” for Coors Light Qualifying for Saturday night’s Dodge Charger 500. Per usual, those outside the top-35 in Owner Points will have to battle each other to qualify on time. However, unlike any other weekend on the schedule, this week the drivers will not only have to beat each other, but attempt to tame the track itself.
The Owner Points race for 30th-35th is separated by only forty-eight points, and has been shaken up over the last few weeks. Reed Sorenson jumped two spots at Richmond International Raceway to move further away from that treacherous 35th spot.
Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. fell one spot to 35th in the standings following last week’s Saturday night shootout at Richmond. Hornish Jr. who is continuing his transition from open-wheel racing to stock cars talked a bit about his run in Thursday afternoon’s practice:
“I was pretty happy until the last lap. I got my Darlington stripe. I was trying to be real careful and we were getting some pretty good lap times out of it and I felt like I had a really good lap so I drove it down into three a little bit harder and the front end gave up and flat-sided the car. I guess you’ve got to get that out of the way at some point in time. Just keep working away at it. I was real happy with all the guys on the Mobil 1 Dodge. Coming here for the first time and not really having any kind of experience here I was pretty happy with where we’re at.”
Last week’s biggest gain came from Bill Davis Racing’s Dave Blaney. Starting the weekend in 39th spot in Owner Standings, Blaney was able to put the No. 22 Caterpillar Toyota in the show and come home with an 18th place finish. This run moved Blaney up three spots in the standings to 36th, seventy-one points behind Hornish Jr.
After jumping back behind the wheel two weeks ago at Talladega Superspeedway, Red Bull Racing’s A.J. Allmendinger has proved his time off was well spent. Allmendinger qualified for both the race at Talladega and last week at Richmond, only to have bad luck spoil the runs, taking him out of the event. Allmendinger must have confidence heading into Friday evening’s qualifying; the driver of the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota paced the field’s second practice on Thursday afternoon.
Gillett Evernham Racing’s Patrick Carpentier started last week’s event from the fourth starting spot, only to take a wild ride in Richmond’s version of the ‘Big One’. This week the Canadian-born driver heads to a track unlike anything he has ever experienced before. The driver of the No. 10 LifeLock Dodge struggled in Thursday’s opening practice running only the 44th fastest time.
“I was lost,” Carpentier laughed. “I’ve never been on an oval in my life where you turn twice in the same corner. In the beginning I was in everybody’s way but as we kept running it was good, see those guys run and where I’m losing a bit of time. Most of it is in one and two; that’s a trick corner there, just to go against the wall, down against the wall and back down against the wall again. It closes down very quickly at the end of two. It’s just a matter of timing it right and getting used to it but at first it was surprising. I was kind of zigzagging on the track so I don’t think the guys enjoyed my presence there.”
With forty-five cars entered for Saturday night’s Dodge Charger 500, only two drivers will be making the early trip home. Allmendinger topped the charts in Thursday afternoon’s practice with four other go-or-go-homers in the top-10. Blaney laid down the thirds fastest time, while Johnny Sauter was sixth fastest in the No. 70 Haas Automation Chevrolet. Joe Nemechek was seventh fastest, and filling in for the injured Dario Franchitti, Sterling Marlin put the No. 40 in the eight fastest spot.
There are two more practice sessions at ‘The Lady In Black’ before the field lines up for Coors Light Qualifying. This will give these teams outside the top-35 two more chances to fine tune their rides and get used to one of the toughest tracks in all of Motorsports.
Qualifying is scheduled to begin 5 p.m. ET and can be seen on SPEED. ![](\"/images/stories/hcrflogo.jpg\")
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