JOLIET, Ill. — Finding speed hasn’t been a huge problem for Jamie McMurray this season. It’s the consistent results that have so far eluded him.
McMurray won the pole position for tonight’s race at Chicagoland Speedway, turning a lap of 183.542 mph in his Chevrolet on Friday.
It is the third pole of the season and sixth of his career for McMurray, who won the Daytona 500 in February but has been struggling of late.
“We’ve had good speed all year, and we haven’t been able to capitalize on enough good finishes,” McMurray said.
McMurray said he and the No. 1 team concentrated on trying to run the low groove at the bottom of the track in practice. Based on his observations of past races at Chicagoland, McMurray believes it will pay off.
“I committed to running the bottom the entire practice, never got off of it,” he said. “Even if the car didn’t quite have the speed in it, I just made my car handle well down there.”
McMurray was followed in qualifying by Jimmie Johnson and Tony Stewart, who said he ran his car on the “ragged edge,” barely staying under control. “It wasn’t a pretty lap.”
Busch notches another win. Kyle Busch pounced on Joey Logano on a restart in overtime, then pulled away to win the Nationwide Series race at Chicagoland Speedway late Friday.
It was Busch’s 37th victory in NASCAR’s second-tier series, moving him into sole possession of second place in the series’ career wins list. Only Mark Martin has more, with 48.
Footnotes. Sebastian Vettel was fastest in the first practice session for Formula One’s British Grand Prix in Silverstone, England. The German Red Bull driver set a fastest lap of 1 minute, 32.28 seconds on the modified circuit.
• Former Formula One driver Kimi Raikkonen made a dramatic exit on the opening day of Rally Bulgaria, crashing his Citroen in Sofia. He and co-driver Kaj Lindstrom were uninjured. Defending champion Sebastien Loeb of France completed a clean sweep of four stage wins. The Citroen C4 driver finished 28.1 seconds ahead of Spain’s Dani Sordo. The rally ends Sunday.
This weekend
NASCAR Sprint Cup: 400 Site: Joliet, Ill.
TV: 5:30 p.m., today, TNT
Track: Chicagoland Speedway (tri-oval, 1.5 miles)
Race distance: 400.5 miles, 267 laps
Formula One: British Grand Prix
Site: Silverstone, England
TV: Noon, Sunday, KDVR-31 (taped)
Track: Road course, 3.667 miles
Race distance: 190.6 miles, 52 laps
NHRA: Northwest Nationals
Site: Kent, Wash.
TV: 9:30 p.m., Sunday, ESPN2
Track: Pacific Raceways
