ANDERSON – Michigan driver Johnny VanDoorn will start from the pole position for the running of the Parallax Power Supply Red Bud 400 tonight at Anderson Speedway.
VanDoorn turned a lap at 12.119 seconds (74.264 mph) to edge out Florida driver Jeff Choquette who toured the quarter-mile high-banked oval at 12.120 seconds. Canadian Raphael Lesserd was third quick with an identical time to Choquette.
Hunter Jack will start fourth in the Parallax Power Supply Red Bud 400 presented by Mitch Smith Auto Service and Perfecto Tool & Engineering.
The top 21 cars were separated by less than a half second with Bubba Pollard, Yorktown’s Rick Turner, Stephen Nasse, Stephen Wallace, Eddie VanMeter and Jack Dossey III rounding out the top ten.
“I didn’t think we had a shot at the pole position,” VanDoorn said driving the Mitch Smith Auto Service sponsored Chevrolet. “We were focusing on the long runs so taking the pole was a surprise.
“Without the invert we get to start upfront and away from where all the wrecks happen.”
VanDoorn is looking for his third Red Bud 400 win having won the event in 2007 and 2013. He is coming into the night on a two-race winning streak.
Choquette making his first appearance at Anderson Speedway was pleased with his qualifying run.
“For the first time here and being only a tenth of a second off the time by Johnny (VanDoorn), we’re pleased with it,” he said. “This is just another race track with four corners and two straights.”
Lessard also making his first appearance at the Red Bud 400 said the run was good.
“The track is fun,” he said of Anderson Speedway, “I like it. I think we have a good car for tonight.”
Defending race winner Dalton Armstrong battled a transmission problem that surfaced during the final practice session and qualified 15th. The team opted to continue to work on the car after qualifying and will start on the tail of the 23 car field.
