NOTEBOOK \ NASCAR

Busch qualifying: Pinch-hitting for regular driver Denny Hamlin, Aric Almirola took the pole for the NASCAR Busch Series race at the Milwaukee Mile for the second straight year with a lap of 121.589 mph Saturday. As he did last year, Almirola was expected to turn the No. 20 Chevrolet over to Hamlin for Saturday night’s race. But Hamlin — one of a handful of Nextel Cup drivers attempting to run the Busch race in Milwaukee and the Cup race in Sonoma, Calif. today — was to start from the back of the pack because of the driver change, assuming he arrived in Milwaukee in time for the race. Jason Leffler qualified second, followed by Scott Wimmer, Brad Coleman and Shane Huffman. The race was not completed in time for today’s edition.
Hendrick concerned: Team owner Rick Hendrick wasn’t happy Saturday at Infineon Raceway. Hendrick said that NASCAR’s holding the cars of Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson out of Friday’s practice and qualifying after finding a technical violation on both entries “has already slowed down the momentum” of his team, which has won 10 of the first 15 NASCAR Nextel Cup races this season, including five of the first six Car of Tomorrow races. The team was allowed to change the front fenders on the two cars to bring them into compliance and Gordon and Johnson were back on track for practice Saturday. But they will have to start 41st and 42nd in today’s Toyota/Save Mart 350, the road course debut for NASCAR’s Car of Tomorrow.

In a hole: Juan Montoya, known as a great road racer during his years in Formula One and CART, and one of the favorites to win today’s race, made the job a lot tougher with a disappointing qualifying effort. Going out last in Friday’s qualifying on the 1.99-mile road course, Montoya’s much-anticipated attempt wound up placing him 32nd in the 43-car field.

Associated Press