Kyle Busch takes pole at Las Vegas
NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Kyle Busch kept his momentum running by grabbing his first pole position of the season in qualifying for the UAW-Dodge 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
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
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