Toyota/Save Mart 350 Qualifying

Qualifying for the Toyota/Save Mart 350 was completed today with Kasey Kahne winning the pole at Sonoma. Wow, what a tear this man is on, this just continuing it. He really appears to be a serious contender for the championship. This is Kahne's best start at a road-course, and puts him in a very good position to do well in Sunday's race.

Jimmy Johnson, who isn't thought of has that great of a road-course racer, Kurt Busch, who needs something to get going, Bobby Labonte, and Jeff Gordon round out the top five.

The field better watch out, as it looks like Gordon has a great car, and we all know what he can do on road-courses.

Here is how they'll line up on Sunday:

1	9	Kasey Kahne
2	48	Jimmie Johnson
3	2	Kurt Busch
4	43	Bobby Labonte
5	24	Jeff Gordon
6	19	Elliot Sadler
7	21	Marcus Ambrose
8	7	Robby Gordon
9	12	Ryan Newman
10	16	Greg Biffle
11	45	Terry Labonte
12	99	Carl Edwards
13	11	Denny Hamlin
14	60	Boris Said
15	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.
16	22	Dave Blaney
17	77	Sam Hornish Jr.
18	26	Jamie McMurray
19	7	Clint Bowyer
20	31	Jeff Burton
21	42	Juan Montoya
22	1	Ron Fellows
23	5	Casey Mears
24	78	Joe Nemechek
25	1	Martin Truex Jr.
26	83	Brian Vickers
27	41	Scott Pruett
28	66	Max Papis
29	15	Paul Menard
30	18	Kyle Busch
31	38	David Gilliland
32	29	Kevin Harvick
33	17	Matt Kenseth
34	0	Michael McDowell
35	55	Michael Waltrip
36	84	AJ Allmendinger
37	10	Patrick Carpentier
38	6	David Ragan
39	20	Tony Stewart
40	8	Aric Almirola
41	34	Brian Simo
42	96	JJ Yeley
43	48 Travis Kvapil

A few notes/observations/thoughts about qualifying:

• Kyle Busch needed to make two runs after some tape was on his car in the first one. He ended up qualifying thirtieth, his worst of the season.
• Marcos Ambrose got seventh. He's looked very good, leading the earlier practice session. Remember, this is his first race of the season.
• Robby Gordon, who is fantastic on road-courses and has won at Sonoma before, will start eight, not bad for driving in an unsponsored car.
• Watch out for Terry Labonte, who'll start eleventh. The veteran who is running some races for Petty Racing knows his way around Infineon, which is what it takes to win.
• The road-racing specialist weren't so special in qualifying. Boris Said was the highest one, starting fourteenth. Ron Fellows was next at twenty-two. That is kind of odd considering all their experience on this track, but they can still come back. If I were them, I would feel kind of embarrassed, as most only focus on a few Cup races, this being a main one.
• Dale Earnhardt Jr., who hates racing at this track, qualified fifteenth, not bad considering his bad history and displeasure with the track. His job for this weekend is to just survive and get a top twenty finish, maybe taking a gamble again to get more spots.
• Juan Montoya, the defending champion of this race, will start twenty-first. As I mentioned earlier, he is desperate for a good race.
• Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart, two NASCAR stars who are usually very good on road-courses, qualified thirty-second and thirty-ninth. That is pretty odd, as these two are probably behind only both Gordon's for top NASCAR regulars on Infineon.
  
• Dario Franchitti just keep piling up his disappointing rookie season, failing to qualify for this race. I actually expected a good showing out of him because of his IRL experience at this track, but I guess not. That's really a shame.