Kahne takes Darlington pole

The 23-year-old, who has yet to finish outside of the top three, recorded a 171.716mph lap around the notoriously tough 1.366-mile oval in South Carolina.

"I've always loved qualifying," said Kahne, "you have to really get up and go for it, so I've always enjoyed it.

"That car was just perfect, and it felt like we made a perfect lap. But I am surprised. We weren't expecting to get two poles already this season."

Last weekend's Atlanta 500 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr was second fastest in the DEI Budweiser Chevrolet ahead of Greg Biffle whose National Guard Ford Taurus is proving to be a front-running machine for the second weekend in a row.

NASCAR's recognised qualifying ace Ryan Newman failed to live up to his practice promise [when he was fastest] and tagged the new SAFER wall in Turn 2, which is now even tighter thanks to the impact cushioning system NASCAR is planning to make mandatory at Nextel Cup events.

"Kasey [Kahne] ran a really good lap and I don't know if we could have beat that, but we should have been closer," Newman said. "I messed up. I got too low and just about stuck it in the fence."

Kurt Busch lines up alongside Biffle on the outside of row two, while former Daytona 500 winner Derrick Cope will start fifth and Newman sixth.
Newman's Penske Racing South team-mate Rusty Wallace, Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Elliott Sadler make up the top ten.