Dave Blaney finally gave Toyota something to celebrate by winning the pole for NASCAR’s Lenox Industrial Tools 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway on Friday.

It’s been a long, difficult first season in NASCAR for the Japanese automaker. Its teams have had trouble getting their cars qualified for races, let alone vying for poles.

But Blaney’s fast lap of 129.437 mph (208.3 kph) in his Bill Davis Racing No. 22 Camry was easily the fastest in qualifying for Sunday’s race.
“The first pole for Toyota and, hopefully, that’s one step in a lot of successful days as far as poles and wins and the whole thing,” Blaney said. “I think we’ve been making some progress in getting some speed out of the cars; I think all the Toyota teams have.

“Brian Vickers has had some real good runs lately, as well. The Toyota side is definitely making ground like we knew it would.”

The news wasn’t all good for Toyota, though.

Vickers, who drives for the new Red Bull Racing team and has Toyota’s best race finish - fifth last month at Charlotte - had his qualifying lap disallowed when his car failed post-qualifying inspection. Officials said the car was too low on the left side.

That put the Chevrolet of Chad Chaffin in the field and left Toyota with just three of its seven cars in the 43-car lineup. The other two were Jeremy Mayfield, driving the second Davis entry, and Michael Waltrip Racing rookie David Reutimann.

Along with Vickers, Waltrip, former series champion Dale Jarrett and rookie A.J. Allmendinger failed to make the field.

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Starting Lineup:

Pos # Driver Sponsor Car
1 22 Dave Blaney Caterpillar Toyota
2 2 Kurt Busch Miller Lite Dodge
3 41 Reed Sorenson Target Dodge
4 70 Johnny Sauter Yellow/HAAS CNC Chevrolet
5 42 Juan Pablo Montoya Texaco/Havoline Dodge
6 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Budweiser Chevrolet
7 29 Kevin Harvick Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet
8 24 Jeff Gordon Dupont Chevrolet
9 1 Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet
10 48 Jimmie Johnson Lowe’s Chevrolet
11 11 Denny Hamlin FedEx Chevrolet
12 12 Ryan Newman Alltel Dodge
13 01 Regan Smith U.S. Army Chevrolet
14 20 Tony Stewart The Home Depot Chevrolet
15 66 Jeff Green HAAS CNC Machine Tools Chevrolet
16 7 Robby Gordon Menards/MAPEI Ford
17 00 David Reutimann Burger King Toyota
18 5 Kyle Busch Kellogg’s Chevrolet
19 18 J.J. Yeley Interstate Batteries Chevrolet
20 07 Clint Bowyer Camping World Chevrolet
21 25 Casey Mears National Guard Chevrolet
22 99 Carl Edwards Lumber Liquidators Ford
23 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
24 40 David Stremme Coors Light Dodge
25 4 Ward Burton State Water Heaters Chevrolet
26 31 Jeff Burton Lenox Chevrolet
27 38 David Gilliland M&M’s Ford
28 83 Brian Vickers Red Bull Toyota
29 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dealers/UAW Dodge
30 36 Jeremy Mayfield 360 OTC Toyota
31 17 Matt Kenseth Carhartt Ford
32 43 Bobby Labonte Cheerios Dodge
33 6 David Ragan AAA Ford
34 13 Joe Nemechek Haier Chevrolet
35 16 Greg Biffle Aflac Ford
36 15 Paul Menard Menards Chevrolet
37 21 Bill Elliott Little Debbie Ford
38 26 Jamie McMurray Irwin Ford
39 96 Tony Raines DLP HDTV Chevrolet
40 45 John Andretti Wells Fargo Dodge
41 14 Sterling Marlin WileyX Chevrolet
43 37 Kevin Lepage Huddle House Dodge
43 88 Ricky Rudd Snickers Ford