Sprint Cup 2012: Race 17 -- Hot Kentucky

Jimmie Johnson has five championships – only two drivers in the history of NASCAR have more, and while not having won last year, this year as the summer drive heats up, no driver on the circuit appears better poised to lead this season to a champ’s cup in November. Reinforcing that perception, look whose on the pole for tomorrow night’s Quaker State 400 – the #48 Lowes Chevrolet. It would be no surprise then that last year’s winner and the driver who has dominated the track in the Nationwide Series, Kyle Busch, joins Johnson on the front row. The second row consists of two drivers badly in need of a good boost for the 2012 season, Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick, still winless. Two drivers needing a better outcome buried deep in the field are the two who completed to the last lap to decide last year’s championship: Tony Stewart in 22^nd and Carl Edwards, winless and one position outside the top ten in 25^th.

This is only the second Sprint Cup race at Kentucky which from a driver’s standpoint does not handle like other conventional 1 ½ mile tracks. Tomorrow night’s race will still be largely a learning experience. There is nothing to be learned by up to eight entries that almost certainly will pull off the track, suck in their earnings, and clutter up the field as NASCAR refuses to either reduce its starting field or set minimum requirements for team resources entering a race. In an impound race where teams have to severely compromise their qualifying setup, race track scabs like Joe Nemechek, a retired drive for all practical purposes except being there when the green flag drops, starts right in the thick of the action at 27^th. While we hope the consequences won’t pull out any true competitors, that the #87 would be involved in a blazing crash would only be just as would any other of the so called “start and park” fraudulent entries. We’re waiting for this trend to extent to small market teams in baseball that will pull two outfielders and a shortstop before going once through the batting order. Yes, start and park is that stupid.

Starting Lineup: ("DNQ" indicates "did not qualify)

Pos	Car#	Driver	Manufactuer	MPH
1	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's Dover White Chevy	181.818
2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Red-White-Blue Toyota	181.421
3	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Express Toyota	181.147
4	29	Kevin Harvick	Budweiser Folds of Honor Chevy	180.367
5	39	Ryan Newman	Tornados Chevy	180.337
6	15	Clint Bowyer	5-hour Energy Toyota	180.228
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Diet Mnt.Dew/National Guard Chevy	180.222
8	2	Brad Keselowski	Miller Lite Dodge	180.204
9	24	Jeff Gordon	Drive to End Hunger Chevy	180.036
10	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota	179.964
11	16	Greg Biffle	American Red Cross Ford	179.754
12	9	Marcos Ambrose	Mac Tools Ford	179.509
13	43	Aric Almirola	Eckrich Ford	179.336
14	51	Kurt Busch	Phoenix Construction Services, Inc. Chevy	179.206
15	27	Paul Menard	Menards/Sylvania Chevy	179.075
16	22	AJ Allmendinger	Shell Pennzoil Dodge	179.045
17	1	Jamie McMurray	McDonald's Chevy	178.992
18	20	Joey Logano	Dollar General Toyota	178.867
19	5	Kasey Kahne	Quaker State Chevy	178.737
20	17	Matt Kenseth	Fifth Third Bank Ford	178.230
21	13	Casey Mears	Valvoline NextGen Ford	177.825
22	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot/Mobil 1 Chevy	177.801
23	83	Landon Cassill	Burger King Toyota	177.020
24	95	Scott Speed	Leavine Family Racing Ford	176.505
25	99	Carl Edwards	UPS Ford	176.217
26	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Chevy	175.970
27	87	Joe Nemechek	AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota	175.730
28	47	Bobby Labonte	Scott Products Toyota	175.615
29	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevy	175.211
30	26	Josh Wise #	MDS Transport Ford	175.080
31	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevy	175.063
32	30	David Stremme	Inception Motorsports Toyota	174.757
33	34	David Ragan	Front Row Motorsports Ford	174.695
34	93	Travis Kvapil	Burger King Toyota	174.402
35	98	Michael McDowell	Presbyterian Health Care Ford	174.402
36	23	Scott Riggs	North TX Pipe Chevy	174.345
37	19	Mike Bliss(i)	Humphrey Smith Racing, LLC Toyota	174.272
38	10	David Reutimann	Outsourcing in the USA@TMone Chevy	173.511
39	55	Michael Waltrip	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	172.199
40	38	David Gilliland	Taco Bell Ford	170.573
41	32	Ken Schrader	Federated Auto Parts Ford	168.534
42	36	Dave Blaney	SealWrap Chevy	0.000
43	33	Stephen Leicht #	LittleJoesAuto.com Chevy	173.132
DNQ	49	J.J. Yeley	JPO Absorbents Toyota	172.612
DNQ	52	Mike Skinner	CrusaderStaffing.com Toyota	171.876