Kenseth loses pole

An unlikely chain of events in an incident-filled practice session has effective handed Ricky Rudd, who qualified seventh, the pole. This has been made possible after Jerry Nadeau (third) wrecked his race car and was forced to switch to the spare as did Kurt Busch (fifth). Both drivers will have to join Kenseth at the back of the pack.

With the cars lining up side-by-side odd and even, Rudd will find himself heading the field at the rolling start. Kenseth will not be too down on his penalty, however, as he won from the back of the grid earlier in the season at Texas after another engine change.

Chad Little, who qualified 36th, also needed a new engine and Ryan Newman (previously 38th) wrecked his car, so both will drop to the tail of the field.