Orange County Speedway Qualifying

STEWART CPATURES 1st ASA POLE FOR N.C. SWEET POTATO 400

ROUGEMONT, N.C. - With all the attention focused on a tight championship points battle, North Carolina native Greg Stewart stole the spotlight by capturing the pole position for Saturday’s North Carolina Sweet Potato 400 at Orange County Speedway.

Stewart, driving the Keener Lumber Pontiac, shattered the American speed Association's ACDelco Challenge Series track record set in 1998 by Adam Petty.

The Four Oaks native turned a lap at 14.225 seconds/94.903 mph to score his first career pole position. He will be joined on the front row by rookie competitor Tristan Dupuis in the Go Go auto Parts Pontiac with a time of 14.249 seconds/94.522 mph.

Raleigh’s Derrick Gilchrist will start third in the Greased Lightning Chevrolet with a lap of 14.284 seconds with defending ASA champion Gary St. Amant starting fourth in the Wynn's Chevrolet.

Kirk Leone of Raleigh, in his first ASA career start, put the KIRCO Motorsports Chevrolet in the fifth starting spot in the 35-car field.

Points leader Tim Sauter will start sixth in the build A Mold Chevrolet with Mike Garvey in the Tecumseh Chevrolet starting seventh and Mike Miller in the Jani-King Pontiac starting in the ninth position. Miller trails Sauter by 16 points with Garvey four th in the points shase, 138 markers behind Sauter.

Jimmie Johnson, currently third in the points battle, will start 20th in the Pennzoil Chevrolet. Johnson is 84 points behind Sauter.

"I went out fourth and I didn't expect the time to hold up," and elated Stewart said. "I told my crew chief (Alan Massengill) if we won a pole I would give him a kiss."

"All the local guys told me as the temperature dropped the times would pick-up," he continued. "I just concentrated during practice to find a good line. This is the best thing that's happened to me."

For Leone it was the first time he had climbed into an ASA ACDelco Challenge Series championship stock car.

"We started out the day and the car was loose," he said. "The team worked hard on it all day and we gambled during qualifying and it paid off.

"My experience here helped me," said Leone. "I've won in a late model here. I would like to get into ASA racing and I couldn't think of a better place to start than Orange County."

Gates open at 10 a.m. Saturday for the "North Carolina Sweet Potato 400" at Orange County speedway. There is an ASA ACDelco challenge Series exclusive on-track autograph session starting at 11 a.m. Pre-race ceremonies start at 12:30 p.m. with the green flag scheduled to wave at 1 p.m.

STARTING LINEUP "North Carolina SweetPotato 400" - Orange County Speedway presented by Jani-King

Pos # Driver/Hometown Sponsor/Make

1   33     Greg Stewart/Four Oaks, NC      Keener Lumber Co./Screaming Eagle Pont.
2   11   R Tristan Dupuis/Lansing, MI      Go Go Auto Parts Inc. Pont.
3   52   R Derrick Gilchrist/Raleigh, NC   Greased Lightning/Schrader-Hamke Racing Chev.
4   7      Gary St. Amant/Columbus, OH     Wynn's/Lane Automotive/Gainey Transport Chev.
5   42     Kirk Leone/Raleigh, NC  KIRCO Motorsports Chev.
6   9      Tim Sauter/Necedah, WI  Build A Mold/Moldplas/Trimplas/Wehrs Chev.
7   1      Mike Garvey/Muskegon, MI        Tecumseh/LaFavre Racing Teams Chev.
8   18     Mike Miller/Woodstock, GA       Jani-King/Miller Motorsports Pont.
9   45     Greg Usher/Grand Rapids, MI     Port City Racing/U.E.I. Pont.
10  28   R Tim Taylor/Indianapolis, IN     E.M.A.S. Ambulance Service/Taylor Racing Chev.
11  6      Dave Sensiba/Middleville, MI    Generac/Prestige Truck Access./Select. Serv. Pont.
12  87     Tony Raines/LaPorte, IN Clean Burn/Daylight Transport Ford
13  72     Teddy Musgrave Jr./Troutman, NC Generac/Zooropa Design/Orosi Sunglasses Chev.
14  00     Andy Ponstein/Grand Haven, MI   U.S. Pipe/Signs Unlimited/Mast Greenhouses Chev.
15  23     Rick Beebe/Merriam, KS  Meijer/Freschetta/Banquet Foods/Hodges Chev.
16  16   R Russ Tuttle/Indianapolis, IN    Tyson/Gold Star Racing Chev.
17  38     Bob Senneker/Dorr, MI   Metro Milwaukee Auto Auction Pont.
18  81     Harold Fair/Detroit, MI Diesel Repair Specialists/G.C.F. Motorsports Pont.
19  8      Tom Harrington/Shreveport, LA   Young Motorsports Pont.
20  44     Jimmie Johnson/El Cajon, CA     Pennzoil/AFCO/Team Monte Carlo/Herzog Chev.
21  22   R Rick Johnson/El Cajon, CA       Nationwide Auction Systems/AFCO/Herzog Chev.
22  07     Jack Landis/Angola, IN  Adirondack/Noah Yoder/LA West/L&A Electric Ford
23  40     Brandon Sperling/Yorba Linda, CA        McDonald's Drive-Thru/Crookston Chev.
24  5    R Eddie Hoffman/Westchester, IL   Structural Transport/Fanetti Motorsports Ford
25  99     Kevin Nuttleman/Bangor, WI      Wehrs Truck Center/Dutch Mill Trucking Ford
26  77   R David Doran/Cincinnati, OH      Lista/Doran Enterprises Pont.
27  64     Ricky Bilderback/Rockton, IL    Red River Machinery/Bilderback Auto Parts Pont.
28  2      Chad Wood/Madison, WI   Truck Doctors/Zooropa/Peel Motorsports Chev.
29  93     Alec Pinsonneault/Windsor, ONT  Build A Mold/Moldplas/Trimplas/A.P. Perf. Chev.
30  04     Jack Smith/Seville, OH  Top Gun High Performance Racing Chev.
31  03   R Ken Alexander/Anderson, SC      Greased Lightning/A&M Cleaning Products Chev.
32  37     David Anspaugh/Sturgis, MI      1st AYD/Fowler Signs/Anspaugh Racing Chev.
33  79     Travis Price/Oxford, GA QuickCar Racing Products/Baptist Rehab Pont.
34  4      Buddy Gainey/Grand Rapids, MI   Gainey Transportation/Nat'l Heritage Acad. Chev.
35  V8     Ted Smokstad/Bloomington, MN    Project 2000 Pont.

R - Pat Schauer Memorial Rookie Candidate .375-mile oval / Rougemont, NC Pole Position - Greg Stewart 14.225 secs. / 94.903 mph