Danica Patrick has scored the pole position for Saturday's Drive4COPD 300, the opening round of the 2012 NASCAR Nationwide Series.
In Patrick's 26th career start, she set the fastest speed with a lap at 182.741mph for JR Motorsports. The pole is the first for her crew chief, Tony Eury Jr., at Daytona, and Patrick was quick to give him most of the credit.
“It feels really good,” she said. “I didn't watch most of it. I thought it'd be bad to look. You know, Tony Stewart told me, ‘You gotta take all the credit.'
“But really, I'm so happy for Tony Jr. He has put so much effort into speedway cars throughout his career, and never had a pole. All I had to do was drive it, hold the throttle open and turn left. It's great to be on the pole for Drive4COPD, one of my partners, and for GoDaddy.”
It marks a quick turnaround for Patrick, who will start toward the rear of the Daytona 500 field after a last-lap crash in her Gatorade Duel on Thursday. Trevor Bayne, the defending Daytona 500 champion, starts alongside Patrick for the Nationwide race.
Elliott Sadler, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Austin Dillon complete the top five on the grid. Dillon moves into Nationwide for 2012 after winning the Camping World Truck Series championship a year ago.
Sam Hornish Jr., Stewart, Cole Whitt, Brad Keselowski and defending Nationwide champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. round out the top 10 on the grid.
| Pos |
Driver |
Car/Engine |
Time |
Delay |
| 1 |
Danica Patrick |
Chevrolet |
49.250 |
- |
| 2 |
Trevor Bayne |
Ford |
49.257 |
0.007 |
| 3 |
Elliott Sadler |
Chevrolet |
49.269 |
0.019 |
| 4 |
Dale Earnhardt Jr. |
Chevrolet |
49.290 |
0.040 |
| 5 |
Austin Dillon |
Chevrolet |
49.339 |
0.089 |
| 6 |
Sam Hornish Jr. |
Dodge |
49.367 |
0.117 |
| 7 |
Tony Stewart |
Chevrolet |
49.383 |
0.133 |
| 8 |
Cole Whitt |
Chevrolet |
49.421 |
0.171 |
| 9 |
Brad Keselowski |
Dodge |
49.425 |
0.175 |
| 10 |
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. |
Ford |
49.497 |
0.247 |
| 11 |
Kasey Kahne |
Chevrolet |
49.550 |
0.300 |
| 12 |
Justin Allgaier |
Chevrolet |
49.588 |
0.338 |
| 13 |
Mike Bliss |
Toyota |
49.606 |
0.356 |
| 14 |
Kurt Busch |
Chevrolet |
49.634 |
0.384 |
| 15 |
James Buescher |
Chevrolet |
49.669 |
0.419 |
| 16 |
Michael Annett |
Ford |
49.708 |
0.458 |
| 17 |
Denny Hamlin |
Toyota |
49.733 |
0.483 |
| 18 |
Ryan Truex |
Chevrolet |
49.743 |
0.493 |
| 19 |
Brian Scott |
Toyota |
49.755 |
0.505 |
| 20 |
Eric McClure |
Toyota |
49.796 |
0.546 |
| 21 |
Johanna Long |
Chevrolet |
49.831 |
0.581 |
| 22 |
Joey Logano |
Toyota |
49.840 |
0.590 |
| 23 |
David Ragan |
Ford |
49.908 |
0.658 |
| 24 |
Kyle Busch |
Toyota |
50.023 |
0.773 |
| 25 |
Tayler Malsam |
Toyota |
50.096 |
0.846 |
| 26 |
Kenny Wallace |
Toyota |
50.113 |
0.863 |
| 27 |
Joe Nemechek |
Toyota |
50.209 |
0.959 |
| 28 |
Mike Wallace |
Chevrolet |
50.259 |
1.009 |
| 29 |
Timmy Hill |
Ford |
50.331 |
1.081 |
| 30 |
Johnny Sauter |
Toyota |
50.374 |
1.124 |
| 31 |
Blake Koch |
Ford |
50.420 |
1.170 |
| 32 |
Casey Roderick |
Ford |
50.532 |
1.282 |
| 33 |
Benny Gordon |
Toyota |
50.539 |
1.289 |
| 34 |
Robert Richardson Jr. |
Chevrolet |
50.559 |
1.309 |
| 35 |
Joey Gase |
Ford |
50.664 |
1.414 |
| 36 |
Jeremy Clements |
Chevrolet |
50.780 |
1.530 |
| 37 |
Josh Wise |
Chevrolet |
50.793 |
1.543 |
| 38 |
J.J. Yeley |
Chevrolet |
50.819 |
1.569 |
| 39 |
Reed Sorenson |
Chevrolet |
51.286 |
2.036 |
| 40 |
T.J. Bell |
Chevrolet |
50.867 |
1.617 |
| 41 |
Jason Bowles |
Dodge |
50.891 |
1.641 |
| 42 |
Danny Efland |
Chevrolet |
51.016 |
1.766 |
| 43 |
Jeff Green |
Toyota |
50.853 |
1.603 |
| - |
Morgan Shepherd |
Chevrolet |
50.616 |
1.366 |
| - |
Derrike Cope |
Chevrolet |
50.818 |
1.568 |
| - |
Erik Darnell |
Chevrolet |
50.857 |
1.607 |
| - |
Scott Speed |
Chevrolet |
51.076 |
1.826 |
| - |
Mike Harmon |
Chevrolet |
51.166 |
1.916 |
| - |
Chase Miller |
Chevrolet |
51.428 |
2.178 |
| - |
Donnie Neuenberger |
Ford |
51.801 |
2.551 |