Carpentier a surprise pole winner at New Hampshire

Rookie runs after lengthy rain delay, has Bobby Labonte's Dodge alongside

DAVID POOLE

The Charlotte Observer

Friday, Jun. 27, 2008

• Final practice | Montoya fastest again in Saturday's late session
• Early practice | Montoya tops chart in first session on Saturday
• Qualifying results | Unofficial scoring
• Slideshow | Friday's action at the track
• Videos | Pole winner's news conference, more from the track
• Friday's practice | Harvick fastest in session before qualifying

LOUDON, N.H. - Reed Sorenson was happy the rain stopped Friday at New Hampshire International Speedway. Scott Riggs and Dario Franchitti were glad, too.

Patrick Carpentier was downright ecstatic.

Carpentier, a 36-year-old Sprint Cup rookie, ran a lap at 129.776 mph after the 1 hour, 45 minute rain delay to win the pole for Sunday's Lenox 301. It's the first career pole for the Canadian, who drives the No. 10 Dodge for Gillett Evernham Motorsports.

"It's amazing," Carpentier said. "You would've told me I would struggle on the road course last week and get the pole this week, I would have told you that you were crazy."

Carpentier started 37th last weekend at Infineon Raceway and finished 23rd - his best finish of the season. On Friday, his lap bumped Bobby Labonte's 129.059 mph to the outside of Row 1. Labonte was looking to end his streak of 153 races without a pole.

"There are going to be busloads of people coming down here," Carpentier said of fans from the Montreal area, near his home. "Hopefully, on Sunday I will get to stay there a while. That will be the hard part. But I will enjoy this now."

Sorenson had the fastest lap before the rain, at 128.828 mph. That wound up only sixth best overall after 21 cars ran on a cooler track following the delay, but Sorenson would have started 35th had qualifying not resumed and the field been set according to the NASCAR rulebook.

"I'd be out there now if I had any tools," Sorenson said during the track drying efforts. "I'll go out there in a street car if they'll let me."

Sorenson, who started third in this race one year ago, is back in his No. 41 Dodge this weekend after Scott Pruett ran it last week at Infineon Raceway. But Pruett, a road course expert, got turned in the final few laps and wound up finishing 38th.

"A lot of people don't understand, but Chip (Ganassi) called me and asked me if I wanted Pruett to drive it," Sorenson said. "He thought it would be a good idea and asked me what I thought about it. I thought about it for a couple of hours and we decided that's what we wanted to do."

The plan was for Pruett to get a good finish to give the team a bit of a cushion in the car owner standings. The No. 41 team is in 35th in those standings, the final spot guaranteed a starting slot in each week's race.

"You don't want to think about it, but you have to a little bit," Sorenson said of the precarious points standing. "We're trying to focus on what we have to do to go forward in the points."

Riggs and Franchitti know all about what it's like to be outside the top 35. Both missed the show last weekend, but they rebounded nicely. Riggs ran 128.976 mph to tie Kevin Harvick for the third best lap and will start outside of Harvick on the second row. Franchitti ran 128.824 mph and will start seventh behind Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Sorenson.

Sorenson's lap was the only one put down before the rain that wound up in the top 10. Martin Truex Jr. will start eighth, with Matt Kenseth and A.J. Allmendinger rounding out the top 10.

Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch would have been on the pole had the rain not stopped. He actually was on the track in his No. 18 Toyota when it started and was allowed a rerun afterward. He went 127.782 mph and starts 27th.

The other side of the coin when comparing this week to last was Marcos Ambrose, trying to make his second start in the No. 21 Ford.

Ambrose started seventh at Infineon and ran well before getting knocked out and finishing 42nd. On Friday, he went last and ran the day's slowest lap at 125.566 mph. He and Tony Raines failed to make the field for Sunday's race.

"It's really disappointing," Ambrose said. "Unfortunately, I've got a hero-to-zero story I can tell."

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