Junior on front row at Talladega
TALLADEGA, Ala. — Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s farewell tour is making what’s sure to be one of its most emotional stops.
All eyes will be on NASCAR’s favorite son in today’s Cup Series race at Talladega Superspeedway, where he’s adored by the fans and expected to win every time he gets behind the wheel of his Chevrolet.
The crowd roared Saturday when he shot to the top of the board during qualifying, but the advantage was short-lived. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., the last driver to qualify, immediately bumped Earnhardt to second, turning a lap at 191.547 mph to put the Roush Fenway Ford on the pole for the Geico 500.
Earnhardt leads all active drivers at Talladega with six wins, but he has never started from the pole. His qualifying speed of 190.780 mph put him on the front row, though.
“I’m pretty happy,” Earnhardt said. “Great lap by Stenhouse and the Roush crew. Would have liked that pole.”
Stenhouse didn’t mind spoiling the Talladega party with his first pole position in four years.
“It will be nice to lead the field to the green here,” Stenhouse said. “It’s a cool way to start the weekend.”
On April 25, Earnhardt announced he’s retiring from Cup Series competition at the end of the season, and this first of two stops at Talladega has him nostalgic for one of his favorite race tracks.
“Thrilled with our car, good speed,” said Earnhardt, who didn’t seem to be joking when he noted a pole would make him eligible to run the preseason “Clash” at Daytona International Speedway next year.
“Probably could have sat down and talked to Rick (Hendrick) about running the Clash or something, but let’s see if we can’t try to get another one later on this year.”
The start to Earnhardt’s final season has not been great, and with his playoff chances dwindling a victory would be a big boost to this goodbye tour. But he’s trying not to put pressure on himself despite being 24th in the points standings behind five finishes of 30th or worse this season.
“We have had a dry spell, haven’t won a lot of races,” admitted Earnhardt, who has only one Cup Series win at a track other than Daytona or Talladega since 2014. “I think if I go in thinking this is a must win, then I’m probably going to get in there and make a few mistakes.”
Earnhardt used his 2014 victory in the Daytona 500 as the example for how he needs to race at Talladega. In that event, he had an aggressive late battle for position with Greg Biffle to earn the victory.
“The only way I could keep myself from sliding backward was to run like one inch off the door and squeeze him against the wall,” Earnhardt said. “It really kind of killed both of our cars. But at least he wasn’t passing me. It was a bit outside of character for me to drive so much like a jerk, I guess, but that’s what you’ve got to do.
“You’ve got to keep on cracking the whip, keep telling yourself, ‘This is what has to happen, this is how I have to do this to make this work if I want to win.’”
It was a strong day for the engines built by Doug Yates. His power landed four cars in the top six, including both Roush drivers — Stenhouse teammate Trevor Bayne was fifth. Team Penske’s Brad Keselowski qualified third and Kevin Harvick was sixth for Stewart-Haas Racing.
Wedged in with Earnhardt and the Fords was Joe Gibbs Racing’s Matt Kenseth, who qualified fourth in a Toyota. Daniel Suarez, his teammate, was seventh.
“All the Fords look fast, and it doesn’t really matter where you start here because it’s such a chaotic race and it’s the luck of the draw on how you finish,” Bayne said. “We know we’ve got a fast car and everybody knows we’ve got a fast car, so maybe they’ll be willing to work with us.”