Johnson on pole at Lowe's

Johnson, who won this event last year and the Nextel Challenge at Lowe's last week, had been fastest in practice and had drawn the final spot in the qualifying order. The 1.5-mile speedway normally gets much faster after the sun goes down. The trials began at twilight and ended after dark.

Ryan Newman, second in practice, nearly put the lie to the speculation when he broke the track record as first man on track. The Penske Dodge ace ran a 28.885s lap, with Jeff Gordon, out 14th, challenging at 28.889s.

Surprisingly those times held up for first and second during the rest of the 52-car order. Rookie Brian Vickers preceded Gordon and ended up fifth. Elliott Sadler, running mid-order, came in at the fourth spot.

The former track record was set by Newman at 28.930s in October 2003. Nine drivers failed to make the show. Those were Steve Park, Todd Bodine, Carl Long, Stanton Barrett, Geoff Bodine, Morgan Shepherd, Jeff Fultz, Kirk Shelmerdine, and Andy Hillenburg.