Missouri IL Dodge Dealers 250 News and Notes

McMurray tops in Nationwide qualifying at Gateway
Sat 19th, July 2008

Madison, IL (Sports Network) - Jamie McMurray won the pole for Saturday night's Missouri-Illinois Dodge Dealers 200 Nationwide Series race at the Gateway International Raceway just outside St. Louis. The No.17 Roush Fenway Racing driver rounded the 1.25-mile oval in 33.809 seconds (133.101 m.p.h.).

McMurray, a Sprint Cup Series regular and native of nearby Joplin, MO, scored his second career Nationwide pole. His first one came in 2004 at New Hampshire.

"When I ran my first lap, I thought I'll be lucky to make the show with that lap," McMurray said. "It felt so bad, and (crew chief) Pierre Kuettel told me my time coming off of turn two, and I thought I knew the pole wasn't much quicker than that. When I came off of turn four, I thought that's got to be a couple of tenths better than my first lap."

Starting alongside McMurray will be fellow Sprint Cup competitor Reed Sorenson, who posted the second-best time of 33.812.

One year ago, Sorenson ended a 61-race winless streak with the victory at Gateway. He finished 2.064 seconds ahead of Scott Wimmer. The last victory for Sorenson had come in 2005 when he won this race.

Carl Edwards (33.898) and Joey Logano (33.974) will make up row two.

After a three-race hiatus, the 18-year-old Joey Logano is back in the driver's seat of the No.20 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing. Logano has recorded one victory (Kentucky) and three top-10 finishes in just four Nationwide starts.

JGR continues on its record-setting path of victories in the series in 2008. Kyle Busch's win Friday night at Chicagoland gave the organization its 13th victory of the season, tying Richard Childress Racing for most owner wins in a Nationwide season, set last year. JGR is running only one car, the No. 20, at Gateway, which is the 21st stop on the 35-race schedule this year.

The race is scheduled to start around 9:30 p.m. (et).