Leaving no doubt that he’s the favorite to win Sunday’s Cheez-It 355, A.J. Allmendinger stormed to pole in qualifying Saturday at Watkins Glen International.
Regarded as NASCAR’s best on a road course, Allmendinger looked every bit the part in both rounds of qualifying, setting fast times in each session. He will share the front row with Martin Truex Jr., followed by Tony Stewart, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Gordon.
Allmendinger, the defending winner at Watkins Glen, captured the No. 1 starting spot in June at Sonoma Raceway, the other road course on the Sprint Cup schedule. However, during his first laps in practice Friday, the JTG Daugherty Racing driver struggled to find speed. A problem compounded when Allmendinger attempted to compensate by pushing too hard.
“I was frustrated and I probably wasn’t helping,” Allmendinger said. “I was overdriving trying to get more than what we there and I didn’t do a good job yesterday. (The crew) saved me. They gave me a good racecar.
“Going into (Sunday), I feel happy with what we’ve got. But, we’ll see. It’s a tough race.”
Gordon initially posted the fastest speed in Round 2 before Harvick bumped NASCAR’s all-time winningest road course driver off the pole. As Gordon and Harvick swapped the top spot, Allmendinger waited in the pits until four minutes remained in the session to turn a lap.
The pole was Allmendinger’s fourth in the Sprint Cup Series. Kyle Larson, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch, Jimmie Johnson and Austin Dillon rounded the top-10 qualifiers.
T.J. Bell was the only driver who failed to qualify.
Cheez-It 355 starting lineup
