Life on the Road – Trucking News Blog

The Office Depot Ford Fusion is on the pole for Sunday’s Checker Auto Parts 500. Cousin Carl turned a 27.114 second lap at a speed of 132.773 miles an hour to take the pole for Sunday’s race at the Phoenix International Raceway. Carl’s lap was only three one thousandths faster than Martin Truex Junior who turned a 27.117 second lap. Top chasers, Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson qualified 3rd and 6th respectively. Phoenix does not hold a history of success for either Hendrick team mate as Jeff Gordon Has only recently won a race here and Jimmy Johnson has yet to see victory lane here in eight starts. It has however been a very good year for both teams so I look for them to shrug that yoke off Sunday.

Racing in the “Valley of The Sun.

I have been to phoenix a lot in my trucking career but I have never been to a Nascar Race there. I have seen the track on race day once as I just had to bob tail down there. I would love to go just once. It is really a neat setting. The track and its surrounding campground is nestled in between some rocky, cactus laden mountains. When I say nestled, I mean just that. Just outside the backstretch is the side of a small mountain of sorts that folks sit up on in lawn chairs or on blankets to watch the race. You cross the Gila River and there is this track that looks like it was dropped in there from above. If you are ever out there and can’t afford the Nascar tickets, Check out the Manzanita Speedway just down the road a piece. I have been to that track. its a over sized half a mile with a 3/8ths short track in the middle. They used to run there on Friday nights and Saturday nights.

How they will line up.

Here is the race line up after Bud Pole Qualifying on Friday.

POS	CAR	DRIVER	MAKE	SPONSOR	SPEED	TIME	BEHIND
1	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Office Depot	132.773	27.114	Leader
2	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops / Tracker	132.758	27.117	-0.003
3	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	DuPont	132.699	27.129	-0.015
4	18	J.J. Yeley	Chevrolet	Interstate Batteries	132.236	27.224	-0.110
5	70	Johnny Sauter	Chevrolet	FleetPride / Yellow	132.144	27.243	-0.129
6	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	132.130	27.246	-0.132
7	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	Dish Network	132.091	27.254	-0.140
8	96	Tony Raines	Chevrolet	DLP HDTV	132.057	27.261	-0.147
9	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	Miller Lite	132.023	27.268	-0.154
10	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	Dodge Dealers Lifetime Powertrain Warranty / UAW	132.023	27.268	-0.154
11	25	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	National Guard / GMAC	132.008	27.271	-0.157
12	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	AT&T Mobility	131.936	27.286	-0.172
13	12	Ryan Newman	Dodge	ALLTEL	131.917	27.290	-0.176
14	42	Juan Montoya*	Dodge	Texaco / Havoline	131.670	27.341	-0.227
15	11	Denny Hamlin	Chevrolet	FedEx Ground	131.627	27.350	-0.236
16	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	Siemens / Dodge Dealers	131.569	27.362	-0.248
17	22	Dave Blaney	Toyota	Caterpillar	131.560	27.364	-0.250
18	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	DEWALT NANO Technology	131.545	27.367	-0.253
19	15	Paul Menard*	Chevrolet	Johns Manville / Menards	131.454	27.386	-0.272
20	07	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	Jack Daniel’s	131.401	27.397	-0.283
21	20	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	The Home Depot	131.382	27.401	-0.287
22	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Red Bull	131.348	27.408	-0.294
23	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	IRWIN Industrial Tools	131.305	27.417	-0.303
24	10	Patrick Carpentier	Dodge	Sears Auto Center / Valvoline / Stanley	131.267	27.425	-0.311
25	41	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	Target	131.205	27.438	-0.324
26	06	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	Mobil 1	131.062	27.468	-0.354
27	127	Jacques Villeneuve	Toyota	UNICEF	131.014	27.478	-0.364
28	01	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	130.976	27.486	-0.372
29	109	Sterling Marlin	Chevrolet	Miccosukee Resort & Gaming	130.933	27.495	-0.381
30	36	Johnny Benson	Toyota	360 OTC	130.757	27.532	-0.418
31	78	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet	Furniture Row Racing	130.738	27.536	-0.422
32	43	Bobby Labonte	Dodge	Cheerios / Betty Crocker	130.553	27.575	-0.461
33	88	Ricky Rudd	Ford	Pedigree	130.501	27.586	-0.472
34	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Shell / Pennzoil	130.468	27.593	-0.479
35	8	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	Budweiser	130.449	27.597	-0.483
36	45	Kyle Petty	Dodge	Wells Fargo	130.091	27.673	-0.559
37	40	David Stremme	Dodge	Wrigley’s Juicy Fruit	130.081	27.675	-0.561
38	5	Kyle Busch	Chevrolet	Kellogg’s / CARQUEST	129.950	27.703	-0.589
39	7	Robby Gordon	Ford	MAPEI / Menards	129.898	27.714	-0.600
40	66	Jeremy Mayfield	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	129.716	27.753	-0.639
41	6	David Ragan+*	Ford	AAA Insurance	129.079	27.890	-0.776
42	38	David Gilliland+	Ford	M&M’s	128.278	28.064	-0.950
43	21	Bill Elliott	Ford	Ore-Ida Extra Crispy / Heinz	Champion’s Provisional -
Did Not Qualify
44	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	130.634	27.558	-0.444
45	84	A.J. Allmendinger*	Toyota	Red Bull	130.572	27.571	-0.457
46	4	Ward Burton	Chevrolet	Lucas Oil / State Water Heaters	129.538	27.791	-0.677
47	49	John Andretti	Dodge	HealthLife.com	129.454	27.809	-0.695
48	44	Dale Jarrett	Toyota	UPS	128.155	28.091	-0.977
49	00	David Reutimann*	Toyota	Burger King	-	-

Television Coverage is on ABC as usual, starting at 2 P.M. eastern time with “The Countdown to The Green” pre race show and green flag coverage starting around 3 P.M. Catch it in your cab on the dish or hook up to Idle Air, or attempt to find a truck stop that has it on.(Good Luck) But whatever you do, check out the race! There are only two left. I’m going to predict that it will be Jimmy Johnson that wins the championship this year and not Jeff Gordon. Jimmy could clinch in this Sunday if he wins the race and Jeff Gordon has major problems at the same time. It could happen. Hey, stay safe out there chasing that white line.