Kyle Busch takes pole at Las Vegas

Busch took the top spot for his home race by setting a lap of 29.613 seconds at an average speed of 182.325 mph, despite not having the perfect handling on his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Busch had led the way in practice, showing what he was up to from early on. He followed this by being second quickest in the Nationwide series practice session, and then set the pace in Cup qualifying.

"That was pretty awesome right there," Busch said. "The car was definitely pretty good. It wasn't as good as it could have been, you know, it was definitely a little bit tight.

"But I just drove with the tightness we had in it, and it was good enough so we could clear all the walls and not hit anything. We put up a good lap time there."

Fontana winner Carl Edwards will start alongside Busch from the front row of the grid, while DEI's Mark Martin and Hendrick's Jeff Gordon will line up behind them on Sunday.

Mike Skinner, replacing Jacques Villeneuve in the second BDR entry, was the fastest of the non- guaranteed drivers, taking fifth on the grid.

Three-time winner at Las Vegas Jimmie Johnson had a disappointing run, ending up only 33rd, his worst ever qualifying result at the venue. However, that doesn't mean he won't be in contention come Sunday, as he had been third quickest in practice.

The session saw the first time the new qualifying format was implemented this season, with all the drivers outside the top-35 in the owner points standing completing their attempts at the end of the session, all running with very similar track conditions - although much cooler than for those running early.

The improved grip on the track allowed some to set good qualifying runs, including Skinner, Kurt Busch - who lined up ninth, and Patrick Carpentier - who will make his first race of the season after setting the 12th fastest lap.

A number of drivers had to run in their back up machines due to crashes during the first practice session. Coincidentally, six Dodges were involved in separate incidents before qualifying, including Juan Pablo Montoya and Bobby Labonte, who both did severe damage to their primary cars.

Sam Hornish Jr and Kasey Kahne also had some damage done to their cars in practice incidents, while Reed Sorenson and Patrick Carpentier both spun without picking up significant damage.

John Andretti and Johnny Sauter - who was replacing Bill Elliot in the Wood brothers car - had incidents during their qualifying runs and thus failed to make the field. Joe Nemechek and AJ Allmendinger also failed to qualify.

Starting order:

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time
 1.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     182.352  29.613
 2.  Carl Edwards        Ford       181.586  29.738    + 0.125
 3.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  181.293  29.786    + 0.173
 4.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  181.238  29.795    + 0.182
 5.  Mike Skinner        Toyota     181.117  29.815    + 0.202
 6.  Greg Biffle         Ford       181.105  29.817    + 0.204
 7.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet  180.868  29.856    + 0.243
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  180.838  29.861    + 0.248
 9.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      180.777  29.871    + 0.258
10.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      180.717  29.881    + 0.268
11.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  180.656  29.891    + 0.278
12.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge      180.608  29.899    + 0.286
13.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       180.469  29.922    + 0.309
14.  David Reutimann     Toyota     180.379  29.937    + 0.324
15.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      180.355  29.941    + 0.328
16.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota     180.270  29.955    + 0.342
17.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  180.240  29.960    + 0.347
18.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  180.234  29.961    + 0.348
19.  Ken Schrader        Dodge      179.994  30.001    + 0.388
20.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      179.958  30.007    + 0.394
21.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  179.934  30.011    + 0.398
22.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota     179.862  30.023    + 0.410
23.  Jeremy Mayfield     Chevrolet  179.820  30.030    + 0.417
24.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  179.796  30.034    + 0.421
25.  Tony Stewart        Toyota     179.575  30.071    + 0.458
26.  Dave Blaney         Toyota     179.354  30.108    + 0.495
27.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     179.265  30.123    + 0.510
28.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  179.259  30.124    + 0.511
29.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       178.489  30.132    + 0.519
30.  JJ Yeley            Toyota     179.164  30.140    + 0.527
31.  Juan Montoya        Dodge      179.003  30.167    + 0.554
32.  Robby Gordon        Dodge      178.992  30.169    + 0.556
33.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  178.944  30.177    + 0.564
34.  David Gilliland     Ford       178.465  30.258    + 0.645
35.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      178.389  30.271    + 0.658
36.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       178.347  30.278    + 0.665
37.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      178.330  30.281    + 0.668
38.  David Ragan         Ford       178.312  30.284    + 0.671
39.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      178.271  30.291    + 0.678
40.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet  177.913  30.352    + 0.739
41.  Kyle Petty          Dodge      177.439  30.433    + 0.820
42.  Dario Franchitti    Dodge      177.212  30.472    + 0.859
43.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     179.826  30.029    + 0.416

Did not qualify:
     Driver              Car        Speed    Time
     AJ Allmendinger     Toyota     178.962  30.174    + 0.561
     Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  177.334  30.451    + 0.838
     John Andretti       Chevrolet  45.952   1:57.513  + 1:27.900
     Johnny Sauter       Ford