Jamie McMurray Fastest At NASCAR’s Shortest Track
Although he's not in contention for the championship this season, Jamie McMurray set a qualifying track record to capture the pole for Sunday's Sprint Cup race at Martinsville Speedway in Virginia.
NASCAR's Sprint Cup Series drivers move from the longest oval that they race on at Talladega last week to the shortest this week at Martinsville. McMurray had a strong test session at Martinsville a few weeks ago and came into Friday's qualifying loaded with confidence. The testing appears to have paid off as the team hit on something that gave the car more speed. Championship contenders Joey Logano and Matt Kenseth qualified second and third followed by Tony Stewart in fourth and title contenders Denny Hamlin and Brad Keselowski fifth and sixth.
In this morning's first practice session at Martinsville, Jimmie Johnson was fastest followed by his teammate Jeff Gordon, Martin Truex Jr., McMurray and Kevin Harvick. Harvick struggled in Friday's qualifying, tapping the wall and will start 33rd in Sunday's race. Here is the complete starting lineup.
In local racing, Brett Hearn captured the pole for Sunday's Eastern States 200 at the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown. Tim Hindley, Tyler Dippel, Stewart Friesen and Anthony Perrego round out the top five starters. Lebanon Valley regulars Donnie Corellis, Michael Sabia and Keith Flach made the field and will start 10th, 21st and 23rd respectively.