patrickA rain delay didn’t douse Patrick Carentier’s hopes for his first pole, He knew that a cooler, faster race track could be just the ticket that he was looking for. Reed Sorenson was on the pole when a rain shower delayed qualifying with 21 more drivers to go at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. A cooler faster track relegated reed back to sixth when all was said and done and the Canadian road course driver was at the top of the speed charts for the first time in his new career in Nascar Sprint Cup racing.

Sunday Carpentier will lead the field to the green flag in the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Another road racing giant, Dario Franchitti will start the race in the top ten with a seventh starting spot on the grid. And to think that I thought at the beginning of the season that the road racers would have a rough time of it this year trying to adjust to the new, much heavier car? Well, win one first, then I will be sold completely. And I would be remiss if I did not mention that Dale Earnhardt Junior qualified solidly in the top ten in the fifth position. You have to go way down the chart to the twenty seventh position to find points leader Kyle Busch.

Here is how they will take the green on Sunday.

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 10 Patrick Carpentier* Dodge Berlin City Auto Group 129.776 29.349 Leader
2 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 129.059 29.512 -0.163
3 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 128.976 29.531 -0.182
4 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 128.976 29.531 -0.182
5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 128.885 29.552 -0.203
6 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 128.828 29.565 -0.216
7 40 Dario Franchitti* Dodge The Guitar Hero / Target 128.824 29.566 -0.217
8 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 128.645 29.607 -0.258
9 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 128.624 29.612 -0.263
10 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 128.624 29.612 -0.263
11 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Hancock / Best Buy / Garmin 128.576 29.623 -0.274
12 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 128.498 29.641 -0.292
13 26 Jamie McMurray Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 128.459 29.650 -0.301
14 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 128.424 29.658 -0.309
15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 128.415 29.660 -0.311
16 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 128.385 29.667 -0.318
17 99 Carl Edwards Ford DISH Network / DishDVRs 128.337 29.678 -0.329
18 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel’s 128.299 29.687 -0.338
19 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 128.273 29.693 -0.344
20 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1 128.251 29.698 -0.349
21 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Ford. Drive one. 128.117 29.729 -0.380
22 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Robby Gordon Motorsports 128.057 29.743 -0.394
23 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 128.048 29.745 -0.396
24 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet CARQUEST / Kellogg’s 127.984 29.760 -0.411
25 01 Regan Smith* Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 127.872 29.786 -0.437
26 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 127.859 29.789 -0.440
27 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 127.782 29.807 -0.458
28 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 127.731 29.819 -0.470
29 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 127.722 29.821 -0.472
30 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 127.662 29.835 -0.486
31 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet LENOX Industrial Tools 127.649 29.838 -0.489
32 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 127.560 29.859 -0.510
33 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditRep
ort.com		 127.444 29.886 -0.537
34 45 Terry Labonte Dodge Victory Junction Gang 127.397 29.897 -0.548
35 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance / Red Sox 127.312 29.917 -0.568
36 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 126.981 29.995 -0.646
37 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Atlas Copco 126.964 29.999 -0.650
38 00 Michael McDowell* Toyota Champion Mortgage 126.846 30.027 -0.678
39 8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet U.S. Army 126.648 30.074 -0.725
40 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 126.572 30.092 -0.743
41 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 126.374 30.139 -0.790
42 15 Paul Menard+ Chevrolet Sylvania / Menards 126.148 30.193 -0.844
43 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row
/ DenverMattress.com		 126.391 30.135 -0.786
Did Not Qualify
44 34 Tony Raines Chevrolet doorstopnatio
n.com		 126.307 30.155 -0.806
45 21 Marcos Ambrose Ford Little Debbie Honey Buns 125.422 30.368 -1.019

Cup Series final practice is on Speed at 11:30 A.M. eastern time today and  race coverage starts at 12:30 A.M. eastern time Sunday morning with pre race coverage on TNT. Green flag coverage starts at 2 P.M. eastern also on TNT. I am excited as my cable company has the TNT HD channel!

Stay safe out there and thank you for the job you do for our country.