Coleman wins first Busch Series pole
(AP) - Nineteen-year-old Brad Coleman
gave Joe Gibbs Racing its fifth consecutive Busch Series pole at a
restrictor-plate track Friday.
The youngster said the first pole of his NASCAR career, coming on the
day his paternal grandfather was buried in College Station, Texas, was a
blessing.
``It's been tough on my family, particularly my dad,'' Coleman said.
``But I felt a guardian angel out there today helping push that car from
behind.''
Coleman joined Gibbs teammates J.J. Yeley (3) and Aric Almirola in
winning plate poles in the No. 18 Chevrolet, but Coleman said this 18 is
not the same car.
``It's actually a brand new car,'' he said shortly after turning a lap
of 184.299 mph to beat out veterans Dave Blaney (184.062) and Jason
Leffler (183.935) for the top spot Saturday in the Aaron's 312 at
Talladedega Superspeedway.
``The team didn't know how good it would be here, but it was awesome,''
added Coleman, who will is making only the seventh Busch start overall
and fifth this season.
It will be the first time in his career he has started a race higher
than 14th and Coleman has yet to finish better than 15th.
Winning the pole was exciting for Coleman, who saw a copy of the
qualifying times, with his name on top of the list, on a table in the
media center and asked, ``Can I have this piece of paper?''
Casey Mears will start third, followed by Ward Burton, Clint Bowyer,
last week's Busch winner at Phoenix, rookie David Ragan, last year's top
rookie Danny O'Quinn and series points leader Carl Edwards.
Looking ahead to the race, with so many experienced drivers behind him,
Coleman said, ``I hope they do work with me out there. I don't know,
being a rookie, if the whole field will go training by me or not.''
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