VARIETY GOOD FOR FORD

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Thursday night qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway proved to be very good indeed for Team Ford Racing in the Nationwide Series. The unusual scheduling (most Nationwide qualifying is on Friday) set the full 43-car grid for Saturday afternoon’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at the 1.5-mile track in Fort Worth.

Roush Fenway star Matt Kenseth led the way for Ford with a solid second-place effort behind pole-winner Kyle Busch in a Toyota. Kenseth’s best lap of 28.72 seconds at 188.055 compared to the 28.68-second, 188.252 mph lap of Busch much early in the nighttime session. Busch and Kenseth were the only drivers to reach the 188 mph range.

TFR teammates Paul Menard and David Ragan were third and fourth in their Ford Fusions, with series points leader Carl Edwards sixth. Menard races for Doug Yates/Max Jones, while Ragan and Edwards are in Roush Fenway cars.

Nine of the 10 TFR entrants made the show: Kenseth, Menard, Ragan, Edwards, Jason Keller, Eric McClure, John Wes Townley, Brandon Whitt and Casey Atwood. The only Ford driver to not advance to Saturday afternoon was Josh Wise.