Kurt Busch on record Vegas pole

Date published : 27 Feb 2010 - 02:00:57

Kurt Busch claimed pole position for his home race as he set a new track record in NASCAR Sprint Cup qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.The former series champion set a lap of 28.614 seconds at an average speed of 188.725 mph, beating the previous benchmark of the session set earlier by Jeff Gordon.Busch had not been on pole since 2007, and had never been fastest in qualifying in the current specification of Sprint Cup car.Last year his younger brother Kyle started from pole to take a popular home victory at Las Vegas and Kurt hopes to benefit from the know-how of his crew chief Steve Addington, who was with Kyle a year ago and took him to Victory Lane."That was an unexpected lap," said Busch. "Looking back at some of the decisions that Steve Addington made, just looking at our notebook, I'm following his directions on some of the key things that maybe I've been missing with this car."Just to get a pole with this car - is my first one. It's been that long. Unfortunately that's been the process of getting to this point but it's a fun car to win, a fun car to race with and now a fun car to qualify with. To do it here in my hometown is really exciting."Gordon will share the front row with the Penske racer, while Hendrick-powered cars swept the second row with Stewart Haas's Ryan Newman and Hendrick Motorsports' Dale Earnhardt Jr, who sat on provisional pole for most of the session, being the first of 18 drivers to break the track record.Last year's winner Kyle Busch was fifth as the best Toyota, sharing the third row with his Joe Gibbs Racing team-mate Joey Logano. Roush Fenway's Greg Biffle was seventh quickest and the best Ford, followed by the Chevy of Hendrick Motorsports' Mark Martin.Stewart Haas's Tony Stewart and Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya, who had been fastest in practice, rounded out the top ten. Points leader Kevin Harvick slammed the wall in practice and qualified the same car later in the day, ending up 34th fastest.Furniture Row's Joe Nemechek was best among the non-guaranteed drivers in 15th, while Casey Mears and Terry Cook failed to qualify.Pos Driver Make Time 1. Kurt Busch Dodge 28.614 2. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 28.625 + 0.011 3. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 28.696 + 0.082 4. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 28.697 + 0.083 5. Kyle Busch Toyota 28.700 + 0.086 6. Joey Logano Toyota 28.783 + 0.169 7. Greg Biffle Ford 28.785 + 0.171 8. Mark Martin Chevrolet 28.800 + 0.186 9. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 28.886 + 0.27210. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 28.909 + 0.29511. Matt Kenseth Ford 28.916 + 0.30212. Carl Edwards Ford 28.946 + 0.33213. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 28.947 + 0.33314. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 28.963 + 0.34915. Joe Nemechek Toyota 28.977 + 0.36316. Brad Keselowski Dodge 28.994 + 0.38017. David Reutimann Toyota 28.996 + 0.38218. David Ragan Ford 29.003 + 0.38919. Kasey Kahne Ford 29.033 + 0.41920. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 29.038 + 0.42421. Max Papis Toyota 29.111 + 0.49722. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29.127 + 0.51323. Scott Speed Toyota 29.152 + 0.53824. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 29.172 + 0.55825. Travis Kvapil Ford 29.180 + 0.56626. Paul Menard Ford 29.225 + 0.61127. Denny Hamlin Toyota 29.250 + 0.63628. Regan Smith Chevrolet 29.254 + 0.64029. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 29.260 + 0.64630. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 29.262 + 0.64831. Brian Vickers Toyota 29.275 + 0.66132. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 29.277 + 0.66333. Michael McDowell Toyota 29.278 + 0.66434. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 29.335 + 0.72135. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 29.354 + 0.74036. Dave Blaney Toyota 29.355 + 0.74137. Elliott Sadler Ford 29.433 + 0.81938. David Gilliland Ford 29.676 + 1.06239. Kevin Conway Ford 29.696 + 1.08240. A.J. Allmendinger Ford 29.830 + 1.21641. Boris Said Ford 30.580 + 1.96642. Robby Gordon Toyota - -43. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 29.542 + 0.928