Carpentier's first First

June 27, 2008 8:00pm CDT

The "other guys" in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stole the show Friday evening.

After a short rain delay halfway through qualification, four "go-or-go-home" drivers—those not inside the top-35 in owner points and without a guaranteed starting position—landed inside the top-10 with Patrick Carpentier sitting on the pole.

When the series was at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in September, the big complaint was that passing was nearly impossible on this single-grooved flat track. Track position helped Clint Bowyer win from the pole on that day, and that is what could help someone like Carpentier earn a career-high finish in Loudon.

With such good qualifying runs from the "go-or-go-home" drivers, it is easy to forget that some of them did not make the field. Marcos Ambrose, fresh off what had been a great run at Infineon Raceway before his luck ran out, and Tony Raines both failed to qualify on time. On the sunny side, at least they can get an early jump on the competition at Daytona International Speedway.

Pole
#10 Patrick Carpentier
129.78 mph

Before Friday, Carpentier had qualified inside the top-10 just once this year and he had not been higher than fourth. Qualifying has been a cause for concern in the No. 10 Dodge camp lately since he had started a race inside the top-30 only once in the six previous races. For a team outside the top-35 in owner points, that was a big problem. Not only does the team get to start from the pole, but track position will aid Carpentier in getting a quality finish, which means valuable owner points.

Outside Pole
#43 Bobby Labonte
129.06 mph

Labonte was a bit of a surprise this week. He had not started a Loudon race inside the top-10 since July 2005 and had not qualified this high in 14 races there. Although he has not had a top-10 finish at New Hampshire in three years, he has been seven-for-seven in terms of top-20s when he qualifies 10th or better. This makes two good starts in a row for Labonte. Last week, he started fourth on the road course in Sonoma, although a mechanical problem left him in 39th.

Third
#29 Kevin Harvick
128.98 mph

New Hampshire has been a good place for Harvick. During the seven years he has competed in the Sprint Cup series, he has just three finishes outside the top-20. Since fall 2005, he has a win and four top-10s. Three of those results were earned after starting inside the top-10, which helps make Harvick a tantalizing fantasy option for Sunday. He could use a good run, too, since his last top-10 was in May.

Fourth
#66 Scott Riggs
128.98

Riggs has not had a top-20 in his last four starts, and with his team ranking 36th in owner points, he needs to finish inside the top half of the field. He is off to a good start. This is his best qualifying run since he started fifth in September 2005. Unfortunately, he finished 28th that day. With just one top-20 in seven New Hampshire attempts, don't anticipate a miracle for Riggs this weekend.

Fifth
#88 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
128.89 mph

Typically, where Earnhardt qualifies is where he finishes. Only once in the past five New Hampshire races has he finished more than three positions away from his qualifying mark. Last year, he started sixth in July and finished fourth. After that, he qualified 19th in September and went home 16th. Look for him to continue that trend on Sunday and get at least at top-10, especially considering that he has a win and four top-fives in the past five oval races of 2008.

Sixth
#41 Reed Sorenson
128.83 mph

Things have not been going Sorenson's way lately. Not only had he failed to qualify higher than 17th in the last five races, he has not had a top-20 since he was 12th at Richmond International Raceway in early May. Mediocre runs helped drop him to 35th in owner points with only a 20-point advantage over the 36th-ranked No. 66 team. At least, this is a step in the right direction, but the problem is that his two previous top-10 starts on this track both resulted in finishes outside the top-20.

Seventh
#40 Dario Franchitti
128.82 mph

The Scotsman rolled back onto the track in style. After missing the road race at Infineon, he pushed the No. 40 Dodge as hard as he could and took his best career Sprint Cup Series starting position. Now he just needs a career-best finish to go along with it. Anything inside the top-20 will fit that criteria since his best so far was a 22nd at the sister flat track of Martinsville Speedway. He started that race deep in the field in 43rd.

Eighth
#1 Martin Truex Jr.
128.65 mph

Truex has his act together when it comes to New Hampshire. During his career, he has never qualified lower than 11th or finished worse than 22nd. He has been excellent there in his last two starts, qualifying ninth and finishing third last July, and then starting second in September and finishing fifth. Expect another top-10 out of him this weekend.

Ninth
#17 Matt Kenseth
128.62 mph

Kenseth does not seem to care where he qualifies at New Hampshire. Since September 2004, he has seven top-10s and a 14th. He earned quality results after starting five of those races between 24th and 31st, and his two top-fives in that span were picked up after qualifying in the top 10. So far in 2008, he has been a perfect three-for-three in converting top-10 starts into top-10 finishes.

10th
#84 A.J. Allmendinger
128.62 mph

Allmendinger rounds out the "go-or-go-home" drivers who left nothing to chance when it came to getting into the Lenox Industrial Tools 301. He has just one New Hampshire start under his belt, which is a 33rd-place finish after qualifying 39th in September. Add into the equation his failure to make last year's edition of this race and he truly was an unexpected addition to the qualifying top-10. This will be his first race on a short, flat track and just the fourth of his career, so his inexperience will catch up to him on Sunday.

Starting Grid