Wow, what an amazing weekend at California Speedway.
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The No. 5 team won our first pole position for the Auto Club 500. In addition to winning our first pole, we broke Ryan Newman's track-qualifying record by running a lap time of 38.248 seconds at 188.245 mph. Little did I know this until it happened, but I am now the youngest Pole Award winner in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series history. Very, very cool. Honestly, I really didn't think we would get a pole or be this successful this quick. We figured that most of our success was going to happen towards the middle to second half of the season. I am sure there will be bumps in the road eventually as we go along, but this was a heck of a way to get things started for 2005.
My teammate Brian Vickers was on the outside pole position — he sat on the pole here last year — and together we made up the youngest front row in NASCAR history as well (Vickers is 20 and I am 19). It's great for Brian Vickers and I to be on the front row this week. You know, we've moved into the same shop together. There are so many key people that are responsible for the overall success of Hendrick Motorsports. Brian Whitesell is our team manager and he basically was the architect of the Nos. 24 and 48 teams — and you know how successful they are. Brian's just done an awesome job.
After qualifying was all said and done there were seven Hendrick motors in the top 12. These successes on the track go out to all of the people who work at Hendrick Motorsports. The chassis shop, the body shop, the engine shop.
It's fun to be able to go out and win your first pole and I've just got to thank everyone that makes it all possible for me to do this. It's a whole team effort; it's not just one or two people.
The race started off good, we were strong and led some laps but then it started to get tight. We obviously had some adjustability in the car because of the new rules where the cars are impounded. So basically, you qualify with what you will start the race with.
Overall it was a good and bad day. We worked on our car all day long and just tried to make it better and better. We started out so loose and made so many changes to get it tightened back up. We didn't really keep up with the track but that is why we are rookies. We are here to learn. I messed up and hit the wall and the guys just worked so hard today, we moved our way from 35th to 23rd — the first car one lap down and just really ran out of time.
Next week is Las Vegas — my hometown. We are running a special paint scheme for Kellogg's commemorating the release of the Robots Movie. I can't wait!
USA Today
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The No. 5 team won our first pole position for the Auto Club 500. In addition to winning our first pole, we broke Ryan Newman's track-qualifying record by running a lap time of 38.248 seconds at 188.245 mph. Little did I know this until it happened, but I am now the youngest Pole Award winner in NASCAR Nextel Cup Series history. Very, very cool. Honestly, I really didn't think we would get a pole or be this successful this quick. We figured that most of our success was going to happen towards the middle to second half of the season. I am sure there will be bumps in the road eventually as we go along, but this was a heck of a way to get things started for 2005.
My teammate Brian Vickers was on the outside pole position — he sat on the pole here last year — and together we made up the youngest front row in NASCAR history as well (Vickers is 20 and I am 19). It's great for Brian Vickers and I to be on the front row this week. You know, we've moved into the same shop together. There are so many key people that are responsible for the overall success of Hendrick Motorsports. Brian Whitesell is our team manager and he basically was the architect of the Nos. 24 and 48 teams — and you know how successful they are. Brian's just done an awesome job.
After qualifying was all said and done there were seven Hendrick motors in the top 12. These successes on the track go out to all of the people who work at Hendrick Motorsports. The chassis shop, the body shop, the engine shop.
It's fun to be able to go out and win your first pole and I've just got to thank everyone that makes it all possible for me to do this. It's a whole team effort; it's not just one or two people.
The race started off good, we were strong and led some laps but then it started to get tight. We obviously had some adjustability in the car because of the new rules where the cars are impounded. So basically, you qualify with what you will start the race with.
Overall it was a good and bad day. We worked on our car all day long and just tried to make it better and better. We started out so loose and made so many changes to get it tightened back up. We didn't really keep up with the track but that is why we are rookies. We are here to learn. I messed up and hit the wall and the guys just worked so hard today, we moved our way from 35th to 23rd — the first car one lap down and just really ran out of time.
Next week is Las Vegas — my hometown. We are running a special paint scheme for Kellogg's commemorating the release of the Robots Movie. I can't wait!
USA Today
