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LOUDON, N.H. – For a driver who has accomplished so much in racing, NASCAR success wasn’t coming quickly for Patrick Carpentier.
But at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, he made it look easy.
Rookie Carpentier took his first career pole for the Lenox Industrial Tools 301 in his 17th start.
The Joliette, Quebec, native failed to qualify for the season’s first two events, and three of the first five, but found the right combination to take the top spot Friday.
“It’s amazing,” said the 36-year-old Carpentier. “The car just rotated beautifully through the middle of the corner.”
The pole seemed unlikely for anyone as the dark clouds opened up and rain poured onto the race track, halting qualifying. Only 23 drivers made laps.
After the track was dried off, qualifying resumed.
“I was just happy when it was raining,” added Carpentier. “It was like ‘Oh we’re going to make the race. We’re going to be in’ and it got even better.”
Carpentier had to make the race on his qualifying time as he sits 40th in owners points, well outside of the top 35. The top 35 in owners points are guaranteed a starting spot.
“For us, we’ve got to finish every race in the top 20,” said Carpentier. “We need to put the car back in the top 35.”
He became the first rookie to win a pole since Denny Hamlin started first for the fall event at Richmond in 2006.
Carpentier came to NASCAR with mostly open-wheel racing experience. He has two wins in the Champ Car World Series and three wins in CART. Both series are now defunct.
The cooling effect of the rain not only helped Carpentier as 10 of the top 11 starters took their qualifying laps after the rain fell.
“After the rain delay, the track cooled off so that helped us out,” said outside-pole sitter Bobby Labonte, who was only 19th fastest in practice.
Third-fastest driver Kevin Harvick was one of the first to qualify after the track was dried.
“It was a little bit sketchy,” said Harvick, who nearly hit the wall on his lap. “It was a little bit too loose.”
Scott Riggs, who was only 39th after practice qualified fourth and Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fifth.
Starting up front at New Hampshire is pivotal because passing can be difficult.
“I don’t know if you’re going to be able to [pass],” said Greg Biffle who will start 15th. “It’s pretty hard to.”
Brian Vickers echoed Biffle’s assessment.
“It’s easy to get beside someone, but it’s hard to finish the pass,” said Vickers, who qualified 40th. “That’s what makes it really difficult [to race here].”
Reed Sorenson qualified sixth followed by Dario Franchitti, Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and A.J. Allmendinger.
Sorenson was the top-qualifying driver to make a time before the rain.
“I really like this track and it really feels like we have a good setup for here,” said Sorenson who qualified third in the race a year ago.
Tony Raines and Marcos Ambrose, who nearly won the pole last week at the road course in Sonoma, Calif., failed to qualify.
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