Today may be the 29th annual Scotts EZ Seed 300 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, and if the shoe was to fit, Carl Edwards in the No. 60 Scotts EZ Ford Mustang should be on the pole. But, it was his fellow Roush Fenway Racing teammate Ricky Stenhouse Jr., in the No. 6 Blackwell Angus Ford Mustang that kept Turner Motorsports from an all Chevrolet front-row. The Olive Branch, Mississippi native whipped his Ford powered automobile around “Thunder Valley” in 15.220 seconds at 126.071 miles per hour.
Stenhouse’s previous NASCAR Nationwide Series outing at the .533-mile paved oval was last Spring when he rolled his sponsor-less No. 6 Ford Fusion from the 24th position. BMS marks the second NASCAR Nationwide Series pole for Stenhouse Jr., as his 2009 inaugural season of competition, he put his No. 16 3M Ford Fusion in the prime position at Iowa Speedway.
Jason Leffler, who this week is piloting the No. 30 AccuDoc Chevrolet Impala for Turner Motorsports, qualified second at 15.236 seconds or 125.939 miles per hour. Teammate and former ARCA champion, Justin Allgaier, qualified his No. 31 Brandt Chevrolet Impala third with Daytona 500 winner, Trevor Bayne, in fourth with Kyle Busch rounding out the top-five.
Elliott Sadler, in a black No. 2 Armour Vienna Sausage / Food City Chevrolet for Kevin Harvick Inc., qualified sixth with tomorrow’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole sitter Carl Edwards lining up in seventh. Happy Kevin Harvick was eighth followed by Kasey Kahne in the No. 38 Great Clips Chevrolet Impala and Joey Logano to comprise the remainder of the top-10.
Dale Earnhardt Jr., making a rare start in the NASCAR Nationwide Series qualified his Hendrick Motorsports prepared No. 5 TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet 11th with defending Nationwide champion Brad Keselowski in 12th.
Brian Scott who took the pole early on in qualifying ended up 13th in his No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing. Scott, a former NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner at Dover (Del.) International Speedway has been tapped as a sleeper for today’s event.
James Buescher is taking advantage of an off-weekend in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and qualified his No. 34 Exide Batteries Chevrolet Impala for Turner Motorsports in 16th. Scott Wimmer (who confirmed last night on Dialed In with Claire B. Lang on Sirius XM Satellite radio that he will drive the No. 40 for Key Motorsports for the remainder of the 2011 season) qualified 19th ahead of Kenny Wallace with the UNOH Toyota colors closing out the top-20.
Rookie and Pastrana-Waltrip Racing driver Ryan Truex qualified 21st with other top-25 notables including former ARCA winner Jeremy Clements in the No. 51 RaceDaySponsor.com Chevrolet Impala in 23rd. Timmy Hill in his first ever Bristol experience qualified his No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Fusion 25th.
ASA standout Tim Schendel returns to the series in the No. 52 Johnson City Press Chevrolet and qualified 28th ahead of IZOD IndyCar Series standout Danica Patrick, who despite sitting in the top-10 in the NASCAR Nationwide Series standings will bow-out of her NASCAR role to concentrate on her IZOD IndyCar Series schedule beginning next week.
Other notables in the field include; Willie Allen in the No. 05 31-W Insulation Chevrolet with Day Enterprises Racing. The Tennessee-based team will try to compete at upcoming races at Nashville Superspeedway and Kentucky Speedway this season.
Eric McClure in the No. 14 Hefty Black Out / Reynolds Wrap Chevrolet Impala will roll off 37th he is followed by Robert Richardson Jr. in the No. 23 Wildlife Conservation Society Challenger.
Jennifer Jo Cobb will make her NASCAR Nationwide Series debut at Bristol for 2nd Chance Motorsports after qualifying on-time in her No. 79 Ford Mustang. Cobb who is concentrating on a NASCAR Nationwide Series schedule this season has one prior start at BMS last year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. She rolls off 41st.
NASCAR K&N Pro Series West standout Blake Koch brings up the rear of the field in the No. 81 DAYSTAR.com Dodge Challenger in 42nd. And starting 43rd will be Brad Teague in the No. 49 Chevrolet for Jay Robinson Racing.
The only car failing to make the show was Chris Lawson in the No. 03 North Texas Pipe Dodge Challenger for R3 Motorsports. The ARCA racer broke loose off the exit off turn four on his second lap of qualifications and crossed the start finish line sideways before pounding the inside retaining wall.
Lawson climbed from his machine under his own power dejected but okay.
45 cars and drivers were initially on the entry list for today’s race but after Kevin Lepage wrecked in practice yesterday in a second-entry for Team Rensi Motorsports, the team withdrew that machine because of no-backup.
Also, in response to yesterday’s tire concerns, Goodyear shipped over 1,300 right side tires from their Charlotte, North Carolina plant for the NASCAR Nationwide Series and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. While the Nationwide Series will not be able to test the new tire until actual race conditions, NASCAR has scheduled a competition caution near lap 25.
The change comes after concern about excessive right-side wear after 30 laps where tires were shown to be bleeding down to the cords. To avoid potential headaches and from a safety measure both NASCAR and Goodyear implemented the change.
