Ford has historically had a dominant presence at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Friday’s showing was no different.
Matt Kenseth broke the track qualifying record with a lap of 188.884 mph to win the pole for the Kobalt Tools 400 (Sunday, 2:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
Roush Fenway Racing teammates Carl Edwards and Greg Biffle posted the third- and fourth-fastest times, respectively. Marcos Ambrose, who returned to the Ford fold this season, will start on the front row with Kenseth in the No. 9 Richard Petty Motorsports Fusion. His teammate AJ Allmendinger will line up seventh.
Fords won five of the first seven Cup races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway beginning in 1998. While Kenseth, Biffle and Kasey Kahne placed Fords in the top 10 last season on the 1.5-mile track, the overall performance of the car manufacturer wasn’t nearly as stellar as in years past.
Following a dramatic slump where Fords went 23 races between wins from late 2009 until Biffle‘s win at Pocono, a real turnaround for the manufacturer didn’t occur until mid-summer. Sure, there were glimmers of hope at Chicagoland Speedway in July. But the Roush cars really picked up speed in the August race at Michigan where Edwards, Biffle and Kenseth finished second, third and fourth.
Kenseth, who posted just his fifth pole in 403 Sprint Cup starts, offered props to Ford’s chief engine builder Doug Yates for the increased horsepower in that camp.
“I have to give Doug Yates and the engine shop a lot of credit because I think we have more power than we ever had last year,” Kenseth said. “This is our first full season with the FR9 and we started running better on it toward the end of last year. In Phoenix, our engine ran really well and now here this weekend you see all the Fords up toward the top.
“He hasn’t told me that he has had big gains, but he has been in a really good mood lately so I have a feeling that he thinks we have had big gains and the speed is up. I think that is part of it. They keep working to make our cars better and we got better toward the end of last year and you really don’t know about this year for probably about another month or so, but I think we can continue down this path of making ourselves better.”
Ambrose matched his best time-trials effort to date and posted his second top-five starting position at Las Vegas. The last time he qualified second overall was at Martinsville Speedway last fall. Following a 37th-place finish at Daytona — the result of an early multicar wreck — and a 17th-place run at Phoenix, Ambrose acknowledges his team could use a strong run.
“Coming in here I really wanted to step up and with the help of Ford we have an all-Ford front row,” Ambrose said. “We got a great bunch in Roush that help us get these cars dialed in like we do. I am thrilled for Richard Petty and thrilled for me and thrilled for Stanley. I took a chance and I really stuck my neck out to see if I had what it took. Just nice to be up here talking to you and hopefully it will be the same on Sunday.”
SENIOR RESURGENCE
It seems unbelievable that before this season, Bobby Labonte had not been in the top 10 in the point standings for consecutive weeks since the August Bristol race in 2004.
The former NASCAR Cup champion enjoyed tremendous success early in his career with Joe Gibbs Racing, but has yet to find consistency since he left the No. 18 Interstate Batteries car more than five years ago.
At the end of last season, Labonte joined JTG Daughterty Racing. After the first two races of the season, Labonte is currently seventh in the point standings.
The 46-year-old veteran credits “a lot of hard work” by his teammates on the No. 47 crew and as well as a solid effort at the race shop.
“The past two weeks have been a strong effort — a good start to the season,” Labonte said. “We’re looking forward to this weekend. It always builds confidence when you run good, have good finishes and get a good start to the season.
“Hopefully, we can continue that. Watching the hard work that everyone puts into it and all the resources and everything that we have to work with — not leaving many stones unturned as you might say. There’s a lot there to look at. It gives me confidence when you get to the race track knowing that you should have all the stuff, it’s just a matter of putting it all together when you get here.”
Certainly, Labonte’s fouth-place finish at Daytona was a momentum-builder. It was the driver’s best effort at the track since 1998, when he won the pole for both Daytona races and finished second in each.
Since leaving Joe Gibbs Racing, Labonte bounced among a half-dozen teams and posted results reflective of those squads.
What Labonte has gained with his new situation is a fresh start with a relatively young group led by team owner Tad Geschickter, who moved his organization up to the Sprint Cup level from the Nationwide Series just two years ago.
Geschickter struggled the first two seasons with Ambrose, who was new to the Sprint Cup level as well. Although there were moments of hope under the direction of veteran crew chief Frank Kerr, the chemistry never quite materialized.
However, the combination of Labonte and Kerr has shown promise.
“Frank is one of those guys that’s a hard worker,” Labonte said. “He knows his stuff. You still have to be surrounded by good people. He is willing to have that; like every team can’t do it on their own, he’s no different. He understands that we have to have people to help us do things and all that. I think it’s very positive. I think he’s a great asset and very positive to the team, to Tad’s organization because of his experience.”
A WEEK TO REMEMBER
Most drivers don’t have time to celebrate victories in adequate fashion, but following a 66-race winless streak Jeff Gordon reveled in his accomplishment.
Gordon and wife Ingrid enjoyed “date night” in Los Angeles at post-Oscar parties. Then the four-time champion appeared on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno on Wednesday prior to coming to Las Vegas.
“It’s definitely been a great week; with a lot of fun things that I haven’t had a chance to experience in a while,” Gordon said. “It’s been awesome and I couldn’t wait to get here to the race track as to follow up that momentum.”
Gordon’s “momentum” was stalled momentarily after he spun out on cold tires during his first lap of practice Friday. However, he was able to recover and qualified 13th for Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400.
“We had to claw our way back there at the end of practice to get where we needed to be but I’m still feeling good about the weekend and the team and the season,” Gordon said. “We’re still definitely riding that momentum from last week’s win. That was huge. The whole team is just fired up.”
