Kurt Busch on pole at the Glen
Kurt Busch took a commanding pole position for the Watkins Glen round of the NASCAR Nextel Cup, lapping the 2.4-mile road course 0.6 seconds faster than his front row partner Kasey Kahne
The Penske Racing South driver, who had also topped morning practice, was quick to praise his team after securing the position. It was Busch's second road course pole of the year.
"It feels great to do it at both road courses," he said. "I just remember some of the guys teaching about road courses and braking zones and shifting points, mainly my crew chief Roy McCauley.
"I think he won two road course poles this year. His background is open wheel racing and crew chiefing Champ Cars, and he helped out a bunch, just calming my nerves and helping me do the right things on road courses."
Although pole on a road course is likely to be more significant for race day prospects than on NASCAR's traditional wide ovals, Busch was aware that he has a lot of work to do if he wants to translate the pole into race victory.
"There's no camouflaging the fact that we were faster in practice than we are on the pole," he said. "We really have to focus hard on what our car's going to do on a long run.
"We've got to go out there in practice tomorrow and wear out some tyres and keep the thing on track and really gain the right information."
Behind Busch and Kahne, the second Penske entry of Ryan Newman shares row two with regular road course winner Jeff Gordon.
Jimmie Johnson starts fifth ahead of Robby Gordon, another man whose background is steeped in road racing.
None of the 'road course ringers' infiltrated the front of the grid, with Scott Pruett the best of the guests in 13th. Europeans Marc Goossens and Max Papis were 27th and 39th fastest, with the latter bumped out of the field under NASCAR's priority system.
Greg Biffle was the only casualty of qualifying, crashing at the second part of the Esses and putting himself at the tail of the field.
Starting order:
Pos Driver Make Speed
1. Kurt Busch Dodge 122.966
2. Kasey Kahne Dodge 121.845
3. Ryan Newman Dodge 121.642
4. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 121.432
5. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 121.172
6. Robby Gordon Chevrolet 121.144
7. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 120.779
8. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 120.614
9. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 120.609
10. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet 120.497
11. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 120.290
12. Elliott Sadler Ford 120.277
13. Scott Pruett Dodge 120.229
14. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 120.105
15. Boris Said Ford 120.080
16. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 120.059
17. Casey Mears Dodge 120 000
18. Ron Fellows Chevrolet 119.865
19. Brian Vickers Chevrolet 119.777
20. Mark Martin Ford 119.650
21. Carl Edwards Ford 119.530
22. Jeff Green Chevrolet 119.422
23. Ken Schrader Ford 119.383
24. Jamie McMurray Ford 119.312
25. Dave Blaney Dodge 119.291
26. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 119.276
27. Marc Goossens Ford 119.204
28. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 119.189
29. Terry Labonte Chevrolet 119.083
30. Matt Kenseth Ford 119.072
31. Bill Elliott Dodge 119.033
32. Scott Riggs Dodge 118.974
33. Michael Waltrip Dodge 118.903
34. Paul Menard Chevrolet 118.823
35. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 118.595
36. Bobby Labonte Dodge 118.595
37. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 118.502
38. Kyle Petty Dodge 118.367
39. Dale Jarrett Ford 118.202
40. Reed Sorenson Dodge 117.093
41. Greg Biffle Ford 86.583
42. Sterling Marlin Chevrolet -
43. Brian Simo Chevrolet 118.786
Did not qualify:
Chris Cook Dodge 118.601
Max Papis Chevrolet 118.548
Tom Hubert Ford 118.174
David Murry Dodge 117.403
Dale Quarterley Dodge 116.793
Johnny Miller Chevrolet 116.625
Brandon Ash Dodge 116.215
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