Stewart in the driver’s seat

He takes pole after qualifying is nixed

By Fluto Shinzawa, Globe Staff  |  June 27, 2009

LOUDON, N.H. - During yesterday’s 90-minute practice at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, most cars took to the racetrack in race trim instead of qualifying setups. The sky was blue, the day was hot, and the track was dry.

But with showers in the forecast, the teams banked on being washed out. They were correct.

While practice ran the full 90 minutes, rain started soon after the cars pulled into the garage, and at approximately 3 p.m., NASCAR called off qualifying. Race order for tomorrow’s Lenox Industrial Tools 301 will be based on the standings, meaning points leader Tony Stewart will sit on the pole alongside Jeff Gordon in an event where track position could play a significant role in the outcome.

Stewart was the biggest beneficiary of the rainout, and not just because of his position atop the grid. During practice, Stewart got loose and twirled the back end of the No. 14 Office Depot/Old Spice Chevrolet. Stewart tried to save the car and keep it off the wall, but he ran out of room and crunched his ride. The No. 14 team had to scramble to tuck away the primary racecar, pull the backup out of the hauler, and prep it for the rest of practice. Prior to tomorrow’s race, the team will take the engine out of the primary car and squeeze it under the backup’s hood.

“The good thing and the comforting part of the situation was that we’ve got a group of guys that I have the utmost confidence in,’’ Stewart said. “When we get in a situation like that, [the group] can recover from this, get a backup car out, get it ready, and go out and finish the session and finish competitive. From that standpoint, you’re happy. As a driver, you hate having to have those guys do that. You hate putting them in that position. These are long, hard days each day of the race weekend anyway without having to bring up the backup car and do all the switching. They have to go through templates now and go through the same procedures they had to go through early first thing this morning.’’

So far, 2009 has been a thing of dreams for the boss of Stewart-Haas Racing, which has two cars (Stewart’s No. 14 and the No. 39 of Ryan Newman) in the running to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup. One-third into the season, Stewart’s ride has proven to be the class of the garage, besting the likes of Hendrick Motorsports, Roush Fenway Racing, and Joe Gibbs Racing, his former employer.

And that’s why Stewart will sit on the pole tomorrow, albeit in a car he never expected to race this weekend. Chassis 14-530 has only competed in one race this season: The May 2 event at Richmond International Raceway, where Stewart qualified 16th and finished the race in second, behind Kyle Busch.

“Last year, we had it,’’ said Busch, Stewart’s former Gibbs teammate and the points leader at this time last season. “Seems like Tony has it this year.’’

Tomorrow will be the second time this month Stewart will race in a backup. Stewart won the pole for the Pocono 500, but had to switch to Chevy No. 2 after wrecking during final practice. The second car turned out to be better than the primary, as Stewart beat Carl Edwards and grabbed the checkered flag June 7.

“I do feel like it’s a car that’s comparable to the one we started with, which was very, very good,’’ Stewart said of his No. 2 ride. “I’m not sure we’re in a situation like we were in at Pocono, where the second car was better than the first one. But I feel like this one is even to the first car.’’

Not every team was happy to see rain. Denny Hamlin won at NHMS July 1, 2007, his lone Loudon victory. But the No. 11 FedEx Toyota has traditionally been strong at every NHMS showing, and Hamlin, currently seventh in points, thought he could have burned through a good qualifying lap. Hamlin was sixth-fastest during practice yesterday. Through 16 races, Hamlin has averaged a 16.1 starting position.

“Hopefully we get qualifying in,’’ Hamlin said before the session was wiped out. “I feel like we can qualify better than seventh. Usually I would take seventh on any other given weekend because we usually qualify so bad. Our car is good. We worked on it and got it better right there at the end.’’

Kurt Busch was the strongest car in practice. The No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge ran a fast lap of 130.667 miles per hour. Busch spent most of practice in raceday setup. He will start in fourth behind third-place driver Jimmie Johnson.

David Reutimann had the second-quickest car in practice (130.011 m.p.h.). He was followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (129.957).