Charlotte: Sam Hornish Jr qualifying report

Hornish to Start Coca-Cola 600 from 26th Place CONCORD, N.C. (May 21, 2009) - Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, secured the 26th starting position for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday ...

Hornish to Start Coca-Cola 600 from 26th Place

CONCORD, N.C. (May 21, 2009) - Sam Hornish Jr., driver of the Penske Racing No. 77 Mobil 1 Dodge Charger, secured the 26th starting position for the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe's Motor Speedway on Sunday night.

Heading into the longest race of the season, Hornish and the Mobil 1 team are riding the momentum of winning the Sprint Showdown last weekend and earning a spot in the All-Star Race as a result.

During qualifying, Hornish posted a fast lap time of 29.037 seconds at a speed of 185.970 miles per hour placing the No. 77 team in the 26th starting position.

"Let's go race now!" said Hornish. "We had a really good car in practice. We did some race runs to compare ourselves with guys like Stewart and Kenseth and we thought that we were pretty good against them. Anytime you can be close to Tony in race runs, you feel pretty good. We knew that we didn't have a whole lot for them in qualifying trim, but the Mobil 1 Dodge sure feels fast in race trim."