Harvick tops Busch qualifying
Defending NASCAR Busch Series champion Kevin Harvick grabbed pole position for Saturday's Sam's Town 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, edging Nextel Cup front row starter David Stremme by more than a tenth of a second
Harvick completed only one qualifying lap, getting the best out of his Richard Childress Racing car in the evening's cooler conditions. He returns to the Busch Series after skipping the Mexico round and also to the No. 21 car, having raced for his own team in the No. 33 entry at Fontana.
"These guys did a good job today. We were struggling in just trying to get some grip. It's got it now, hopefully it has it tomorrow," said Harvick, who got his 15th career Busch Series pole with a new track record of 29.816 seconds and a speed of 181.111 mph.
Before Harvick got pole, the qualifying session was looking very much like the Nextel Cup one with Dodge drivers dominating and David Stremme emerging ahead, although this time not driving a Ganassi entry but the No. 22 SuperCuts Dodge.
Behind Harvick and Stremme, Ganassi's Reed Sorenson the same lap time as Penske driver and former Nextel Cup champion Kurt Busch, who makes his first Busch Series start at Las Vegas. Sorenson got third place from Busch thanks to his status in the owner points standings.
The Dodge trio all lapped within the 180mph bracket and were the only drivers, with Harvick, that turned laps below the 30 second mark.
Jeff Burton, who starts fifth in the Nextel Cup race, qualified sixth and will line up beside Richard Childress teammate Clint Bowyer.
Just as in Nextel Cup qualifying, Dave Blaney was the fastest Toyota, putting his car ninth on the starting grid with a lap of 30.108 seconds.
Australian Marcos Ambrose had a good run again, being the fastest rookie qualifier in 14th with a lap of 30.236 and a speed of 178.595.
However he felt he ran too conservatively and failed to get the most out of his car.
"After qualifying I was literally spooked and after watching all those guys crash this afternoon didn't help matters," he said.
"I under-drove it but we've got a great racecar and we'll probably start in the middle of the field and have a strong day."
Points leader Carl Edwards was first in the qualifying order, something that didn't help his cause. He will line up on the inside of row 10, beside local racer Kyle Busch.
Mexico winner Juan Pablo Montoya didn't enjoy a good qualifying, despite putting his car fourth on the grid for the Nextel Cup race. His team did not manage to bring the car they planned to race at Vegas as it was wrecked by Kevin Hamlin in testing.
"Same thing, it hasn't changed. It just doesn't have any grip," Montoya said. "If the car is bad at night, it'll be worse tomorrow so we'll see."
With only 43 cars entered for the race all of them made the field for Saturday's race.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 181.111 29.816 2. David Stremme Dodge 180.451 29.925 + 0.109 3. Reed Sorenson Dodge 180.060 29.990 + 0.174 4. Kurt Busch Dodge 180.060 29.990 + 0.174 5. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 179.946 30.009 + 0.193 6. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 179.724 30.046 + 0.230 7. Matt Kenseth Ford 179.706 30.049 + 0.233 8. Casey Mears Chevrolet 179.665 30.056 + 0.240 9. Dave Blaney Toyota 179.354 30.108 + 0.292 10. Kasey Kahne Dodge 179.212 30.132 + 0.316 11. Greg Biffle Ford 179.146 30.143 + 0.327 12. Steve Wallace Dodge 178.962 30.174 + 0.358 13. Paul Menard Chevrolet 178.731 30.213 + 0.397 14. Marcos Ambrose Ford 178.595 30.236 + 0.420 15. Jamie McMurray Ford 178.406 30.268 + 0.452 16. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 178.200 30.303 + 0.487 17. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 178.094 30.321 + 0.505 18. Regan Smith Chevrolet 177.901 30.354 + 0.538 19. Carl Edwards Ford 177.708 30.387 + 0.571 20. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 177.702 30.388 + 0.572 21. Brent Sherman Chevrolet 177.544 30.415 + 0.599 22. Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford 177.503 30.422 + 0.606 23. Stephen Leicht Ford 177.223 30.470 + 0.654 24. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 177.212 30.472 + 0.656 25. David Reutimann Toyota 177.055 30.499 + 0.683 26. David Gilliland Chevrolet 176.881 30.529 + 0.713 27. Brad Coleman Chevrolet 176.788 30.545 + 0.729 28. Jason Leffler Toyota 176.511 30.593 + 0.777 29. Ward Burton Ford 176.309 30.628 + 0.812 30. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 176.246 30.639 + 0.823 31. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 175.879 30.703 + 0.887 32. Jon Wood Ford 175.347 30.796 + 0.980 33. Mike Wallace Chevrolet 175.109 30.838 + 1.022 34. Jeff Green Chevrolet 174.814 30.890 + 1.074 35. Juan Montoya Dodge 174.548 30.937 + 1.121 36. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 174.048 31.026 + 1.210 37. Shane Huffman Chevrolet 173.997 31.035 + 1.219 38. Jay Sauter Chevrolet 173.338 31.153 + 1.337 39. Kyle Krisiloff Ford 170.525 31.667 + 1.851 40. Brett Rowe Chevrolet 170.175 31.732 + 1.916 41. David Ragan Ford 169.099 31.934 + 2.118 42. Justin Diercks Chevrolet 168.523 32.043 + 2.227 43. Eric McClure Chevrolet 167.297 32.278 + 2.462
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