For the first three races of the 2008 season, qualifying has been smooth sailing for Michael Waltrip Racing in comparison to the battles the three-car team fought during the inaugural races of 2007. On Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), the team hit their first speed bump of the season but managed to skim through unscathed as all three MWR cars safely qualified into Sunday's field.
Dale Jarrett and the UPS Team will use a champion's provisional for the first time during the 2008 season to secure a starting position in Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race to be run at AMS. Jarrett will start from the 43rd position while teammates Michael Waltrip and David Reutimann will roll off from the 27th and 30th starting spots.
Rain showers played a game of cat and mouse with the top-three NASCAR touring series on Friday as heavy showers delayed the start of on-track activities at AMS. The weather again was a factor during Sprint Cup Series qualifying, which was held under the lights, delaying the session for nearly a half hour after only 14 cars had posted a qualifying time.
If the rains had set in for the night, all three MWR entries would have been locked into the field based on their championship point's position but instead the skies cleared allowing the competitors to return to action. The fortunes of the three MWR teams were placed back into their hands with the pressure resting heavily on their three drivers.
Jarrett was one of 13 cars forced to qualify in via his lap time to earn a starting spot in Sunday's race. The #44 Toyota was the 11th of the 13 cars, which were forced to make the race on time, to take the track on Friday evening. On his only timed lap, Jarrett posted a 31.46 second lap time placing him 47th quick out of the 48 cars to attempt the race. With Kurt Busch securely in the field, the champion's provisional defaulted to Jarrett who is competing in his final race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
"The car's handling was really a question mark today," said Jarrett following his qualifying run. "We fought a lack of grip in practice and it continued through qualifying. During that lap I didn't know which way the car was going to go so fortunately we had the provisional to fall back on. We'll see how the car treats us in race trim for tomorrow. The weather is going to be a lot cooler, a lot different from today so it could be pretty different for everyone."
Jeff Gordon captured his first pole position of the 2008 season in the #24 entry with a fast lap of 29.93 seconds. Gordon, who started from the pole position more than any other Sprint Cup competitor in 2007, will be joined on the front row by his teammate Dale Earnhardt, Jr. who was just three one-hundredths of a second slower than his teammate. Martin Truex, Jr. will start from the third position followed by Carl Edwards in fourth and Bobby Labonte in the fifth starting spot.
Television coverage of the Kobalt Tools 500 is scheduled to broadcast live on the FOX Television Network on Sunday, March 9th beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET. Radio coverage will be provided by the Performance Racing Network (PRN).
