Ambrose grabs front row start at The Glen

Marcos Ambrose has been pipped by Jeff Gordon for the pole in the Sprint Cup Cheez-It 355 at The Glen.

Gordon, a four-time Watkins Glen International winner, scored his first Coors Light Pole Award of the season, topping Sprint Cup Series qualifying at the road course in Watkins Glen.

Ambrose set a new qualifying track record in the first round of qualifying with an average speed of 208.3956km/h (129.491 mph). However, in the final top-12 run-off Gordon set a speed of 208.355km/h (129.466 mph).

“I am very proud of my RPM team and everyone. It has been a great weekend for us so far,” said Ambrose.

“I wish Jeff was a little kinder to me to let me get the pole. I thought we had it at the end but it wasn’t enough.

“It was a pretty good lap though and I will take it. You have to be happy with front row starts. Jeff is a fantastic road racer and I have watched a lot of races here where he dominated. He is having a standout year.

“You can’t discount anybody out there. Anyone in that Top-12 if they had gotten the pole I wouldn’t have been surprised.”

Danica Patrick, who will start at the tail of the field because of an engine change, treated qualifying as a practice in her backup car. She placed 43rd.

QUALIFYING: Cheez-It 355 at The Glen

Pos	CAR	DRIVER	MANUFACTURER	SPONSOR	MPH	BEST TIME	BEHIND
1	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	129.466	68.126	Leader
2	9	Marcos Ambrose	Ford	Stanley	129.138	68.299	–0.173
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	Lowe’s	128.968	68.389	–0.263
4	4	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	Budweiser	128.859	68.447	–0.321
5	41	Kurt Busch	Chevrolet	Haas Automation	128.816	68.470	–0.344
6	47	AJ Allmendinger	Chevrolet	Scott Products	128.701	68.531	–0.405
7	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr	Chevrolet	National Guard	128.186	68.806	–0.680
8	20	Matt Kenseth	Toyota	Dollar General	128.179	68.810	–0.684
9	2	Brad Keselowski	Ford	Miller Lite	128.052	68.878	–0.752
10	31	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	127.867	68.978	–0.852
11	22	Joey Logano	Ford	Shell Pennzoil	127.761	69.035	–0.909
12	55	Brian Vickers	Toyota	Aaron’s Dream Machine	127.510	69.171	–1.045
13	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	Rush Truck Centers/Mobil 1	128.205	68.796	–0.670
14	1	Jamie McMurray	Chevrolet	McDonald’s	128.131	68.836	–0.710
15	51	Justin Allgaier	Chevrolet	BRANDT Professional Agriculture	128.026	68.892	–0.766
16	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	Kelloggs / Cheez-it	127.839	68.993	–0.867
17	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	FedEx Ground	127.782	69.024	–0.898
18	26	Cole Whitt	Toyota	Bully Hill Vineyeards Toyota Camry	127.715	69.060	–0.934
19	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	M&M’s	127.575	69.136	–1.010
20	27	Paul Menard	Chevrolet	Splash / Menards	127.573	69.137	–1.011
21	17	Ricky Stenhouse Jr	Ford	Ford EcoBoost	127.562	69.143	–1.017
22	13	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	No. 13 GEICO Chevrolet SS	127.322	69.273	–1.147
23	42	Kyle Larson	Chevrolet	Target	127.309	69.280	–1.154
24	15	Clint Bowyer	Toyota	RK Motors Charlotte	127.278	69.297	–1.171
25	78	Martin Truex Jr	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	127.245	69.315	–1.189
26	34	David Ragan	Ford	Dockside Logistics	127.243	69.316	–1.190
27	43	Aric Almirola	Ford	Smithfield	127.197	69.341	–1.215
28	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	3M	127.192	69.344	–1.218
29	95	Michael McDowell	Ford	K-LOVE Radio	127.177	69.352	–1.226
30	5	Kasey Kahne	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	127.012	69.442	–1.316
31	3	Austin Dillon	Chevrolet	Dow	126.819	69.548	–1.422
32	77	Nelson Piquet Jr	Ford	WORX	126.715	69.605	–1.479
33	38	David Gilliland	Ford	Long John Silver’s	126.704	69.611	–1.485
34	32	Boris Said	Ford	Genny Light	126.571	69.684	–1.558
35	83	Ryan Truex	Toyota	Burger King Toyota Camry	126.508	69.719	–1.593
36	23	Alex Bowman	Toyota	Dustless Blasting Toyota Camry	125.824	70.098	–1.972
37	98	Josh Wise	Chevrolet	Phil Parsons Racing	125.566	70.242	–2.116
38	33	Alex Kennedy	Chevrolet	Media Cast	125.266	70.410	–2.284
39	36	Reed Sorenson	Chevrolet	TBA	125.122	70.491	–2.365
40	66	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	Land Castle Title	125.101	70.503	–2.377
41	40	Landon Cassill	Chevrolet	Newtown Building Supplies	124.986	70.568	–2.442
42	7	Michael Annett	Chevrolet	Pilot / Flying J Chevrolet	124.981	70.571	–2.445
43	10	Danica Patrick	Chevrolet	GoDaddy	124.956	70.585	–2.459