Johnson Bounces Back to Martinsville Pole
Written by John Davison · March 31, 2006
After a 30th-place finish last week at Bristol, Jimmie Johnson returned to his earlier performance levels by edging Jamie McMurray out of the pole position for Sunday’s DirecTV500. Johnson’s time was foreshadowed by his practice time, 19.700 sec/96.122 mph, good for fourth on the results sheets. Jamie McMurray qualified second to Johnson, just eight thousandths of a second behind the Daytona 500 winner. Reigning NEXTEL Cup champion Tony Stewart qualified his Chevy on the inside of the second row, flanked by Ryan Newman. Kasey Kahne will start fifth on the grid in Sunday’s race.
Failing to qualify were Derrike Cope, Kevin Lepage, Kenny Wallace, Jimmy Spencer, Morgan Shepherd and Hermie Sadler. Tony Raines, taking over the No. 96 Dodge beginning with Martinsville, after Terry Labonte had driven the car earlier, to assure the young team of a start, thanks to his previous champion’s standing, qualified twelfth, admitting that his hands were shaking for some time after his run: “I’m still shaking and not that it was a scary lap. It’s just the first race out of the box,” he explained.
“You want to do well all the time. I kind of over-drove it just a little bit. If Philippe (Lopez -crew chief) is happy and the team is happy, it’s good for me. I’m real pleased with that. If we could just repeat what we did in practice maybe we could get a top 15. A few guys have picked up and few of them went slower. So hopefully if we can get in that top 15 starting position, that’d be great. For my first race, I was more nervous getting into the car for qualifying than I’ve been in a long time. It wasn’t a scary lap, all this has been going on and I’ve been trying to get this behind me and it feels a lot better.”
Starting Lineup, DirecTV 500
Pos., Driver, Car, Time, Speed, Gap
1, Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 19.575 sec, 96.736 mph, –
2, Jamie McMurray, No. 26 IRWIN Industrial Tools Ford, 19.583, 96.696, -0.008 sec
3, Tony Stewart, No. 20 The Home Depot Chevrolet, 19.596, 96.632, -0.021
4, Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 19.610, 96.563, -0.035
5, Kasey Kahne, No. 9 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 19.621, 96.509, -0.046
6, Sterling Marlin, No. 14 Ginn Clubs & Resorts Chevrolet, 19.626, 96.484, -0.051
7, Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, 19.634, 96.445, -0.059
8, Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 19.666, 96.288, -0.091
9, Kurt Busch, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge, 19.701, 96.117, -0.126
10, Greg Biffle, No. 16 National Guard Ford, 19.730, 95.976, -0.155
11, Scott Riggs, No. 10 Valvoline/Stanley Tools Dodge, 19.753, 95.864, -0.178
12, Tony Raines, No. 96 DLP HDTV Chevrolet, 19.760, 95.830, -0.185
13, Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge, 19.769, 95.786, -0.194
14, Dave Blaney, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 19.776, 95.752, -0.201
15, Carl Edwards, No. 99 Office Depot Ford, 19.793, 95.670, -0.218
16, Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DEWALT Ford, 19.801, 95.632, -0.226
17, Kyle Busch, No. 5 Kellogg’s Chevrolet, 19.807, 95.603, -0.232
18, J.J. Yeley*, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 19.822, 95.530, -0.247
19, Ken Schrader, No. 21 Little Debbie Ford, 19.831, 95.487, -0.256
20, Jeff Burton, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 19.840, 95.443, -0.265
21, Martin Truex Jr.*, No. 1 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet, 19.858, 95.357, -0.283
22, Joe Nemechek, No. 01 U.S. Army Chevrolet, 19.875, 95.275, -0.300
23, Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge, 19.876, 95.271, -0.301
24, Brian Vickers, No. 25 GMAC Chevrolet, 19.887, 95.218, -0.312
25, Reed Sorenson*, No. 41 Target Dodge, 19.902, 95.146, -0.327
26, Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet, 19.905, 95.132, -0.330
27, Robby Gordon, No. 7 Menards Chevrolet, 19.919, 95.065, -0.344
28, Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, 19.929, 95.017, -0.354
29, Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 19.963, 94.855, -0.388
30, Mark Martin, No. 6 AAA Ford, 19.994, 94.708, -0.419
31, Chad Chaffin, No. 34 Oak Glove Co. Chevrolet, 20.029, 94.543, -0.454
32, Casey Mears, No. 42 Texaco/Havoline Dodge, 20.030, 94.538, -0.455
33, Michael Waltrip, No. 55 NAPA Auto Parts Dodge, 20.037, 94.505, -0.462
34, Jeff Green, No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet, 20.046, 94.463, -0.471
35, Stanton Barrett, No. 95 hairofdog.com Chevrolet, 20.047, 94.458, -0.472
36, Scott Wimmer, No. 4 AERO Exhaust Chevrolet, 20.050, 94.444, -0.475
37, Kyle Petty, No. 45 Schwan’s Home Service Dodge, 20.099, 94.214, -0.524
38, David Stremme*, No. 40 Lone Star Steakhouse/Saloon Dodge, 20.102, 94.200, -0.527
39, Mike Garvey, No. 51 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Chevrolet, 20.122, 94.106, -0.547
40, Travis Kvapil, No. 32 Tide-Downy Chevrolet, 20.126, 94.087, -0.551
41, Denny Hamlin*, No. 11 FedEx Ground Chevrolet, 20.163, 93.915, -0.588
42, Clint Bowyer+*, No. 07 DIRECTV Chevrolet, 20.215, 93.673, -0.640
43, Chad Blount, No. 92 Front Row Motorsports Dodge, 20.141, 94.017, -0.566
Did not Qualify
Derrike Cope, No. 74 Royal Admin. Svcs/Sundance Vacations Dodge, 20.142, 94.012, -0.567
Kevin Lepage, No. 61 State Water Heaters Ford, 20.176, 93.854, -0.601
Kenny Wallace, No. 78 Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet, 20.225, 93.627, -0.650
Jimmy Spencer, No. 49 Serta Dodge, 20.247, 93.525, -0.672
Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Victory in Jesus/Dutch Quality Stone Dodge, 20.261, 93.460, -0.686
Hermie Sadler, No. 00 Aaron’s / TNA Wrestling Chevrolet, 20.443, 92.628, -0.868
+ Set by Owner Points
*: Rookie
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