It may have been the most unlikely of locations but Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) will start three cars in a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race for the first time since the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway in February. Dale Jarrett and the #44 UPS Team led the way for MWR, qualifying 16th for the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Infineon Raceway on Sunday.
The UPS Team went into the Friday afternoon qualifying session not knowing what to expect after finishing Friday's practice session in 34th with Jarrett's best lap at 78.700 seconds and 91.029 mph. Jarrett picked up more than half a second to turn in a qualifying time of 78.172 seconds and 91.644 mph.
"The pressure to qualify is tough enough when we're racing at our usual tracks that have four corners and you have only four chances of messing up," Jarrett said. "You come to this place there there's 11 chances to mess up with only one lap and that probably makes it a little tougher but our car was so good that it made my job easier. It feels pretty good to come here and qualify like this. I definitely don't consider myself a road course specialist but I have been fortunate to have some good things happen at these tracks and I enjoy racing here."
Jarrett's 16th-place qualifying effort is the best starting spot of the season for the #44 UPS Team.
In an effort to improve the team's overall chances of qualifying for Sunday's road course race, MWR elected to have drivers with more road-racing expertise fill the seats of both the #55 NapaToyota and the #00 Burger King Toyota. Former NASCAR Cup Series champion Terry Labonte steppedin behind the wheel of the Napa Toyota while road-racing specialist P.J. Jones took over driving duties of the #00 Burger King Toyota for the weekend. The decision worked in the favor of MWR as both drivers made the starting lineup for the Toyota Save Mart 350 with Jones being the last of the "go or go-home" drivers to make the race.
Labonte's lap time of 78.534 seconds and 91.222 mph placed him 25th on the starting grid for Sunday's race while Jones will start 34th after turning in a qualifying time of 78.813 seconds and 90.899 mph. Jamie McMurray starts from the pole on Sunday after edging out Robby Gordon for the top starting spot with his qualifying time of 77.521 seconds and 92.414 mph. Gordon starts second with his qualifying time of 77.533 seconds and 92.399 mph.
The Toyota Save Mart 350 is scheduled to start on Sunday at 2 p.m. PDT. TNT will provide the live broadcast of the event with pre-race coverage going live at 1:30 p.m. PDT.
