Tony Stewart doesn’t win pole positions very often. In fact, throughout his multi-championship, 47-win career, Stewart had only 13 poles in 488 starts heading into this weekend.
NASCAR Atlanta Starting Lineup 2012: Tony Stewart Leads Qualifying For AdvoCare 500
Make that 14.
Stewart, one of the final cars to go out in Friday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway, posted a lap of 186.121 mph by using the high line to bump Greg Biffle from the top spot. The defending champion will start on the pole for only the fourth time in the last seven years.
Biffle will start second, followed by Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon. The top 10 was completed by Mark Martin, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Joey Logano and Marcos Ambrose.
Danica Patrick, making her fifth career start, qualified a career-best 23rd – ahead of drivers like Kevin Harvick (24th), Clint Bowyer (30th) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (35th).
Michael McDowell, Josh Wise, Stephen Leicht and Mike Bliss failed to qualify for the race.
Here is the starting lineup for Sunday’s AdvoCare 500 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
- Tony Stewart
- Greg Biffle
- Kyle Busch
- Matt Kenseth
- Jeff Gordon
- Mark Martin
- Denny Hamlin
- Jimmie Johnson
- Joey Logano
- Marcos Ambrose
- Kasey Kahne
- Carl Edwards
- Aric Almirola
- David Ragan
- Sam Hornish Jr.
- Kurt Busch
- Ryan Newman
- Paul Menard
- Casey Mears
- Jamie McMurray
- Brad Keselowski
- Dave Blaney
- Danica Patrick
- Kevin Harvick
- Bobby Labonte
- Jeff Burton
- Regan Smith
- Martin Truex Jr.
- David Gilliland
- Clint Bowyer
- David Stremme
- Trevor Bayne
- Juan Pablo Montoya
- Jason Leffler
- Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- Scott Speed
- Joe Nemechek
- Reed Sorenson
- Scott Riggs
- Landon Cassill
- Travis Kvapil
- TJ Bell
- JJ Yeley
DNQ: Michael McDowell, Josh Wise, Stephen Leicht, Mike Bliss.
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