Lepage takes Atlanta Winston Cup pole

He put in a time of 28.617 to claim top spot ahead of Steve Park and Mark Martin.

After first round qualifying for the NAPA 500 was completed at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Friday afternoon, Rick Mast was listed in the 49th spot, or last.

As his Ford belched a rather telling cloud of smoke on the backstretch, the engine blew and Mast coasted to pit road clocking just 170.302 mph.

The 'guest appearance' of Crash Bandicoot on a special paint scheme for the season finale didn't make much of an impression in the fast time category.

After the crew spent time trying to find the cause of two blown engines, the culprit part was found.

'The recirculator system on the water system, the deal everybody uses for qualifying,' said Mast.

'The little valve was stuck and it wasn't circulating water when we were running, so it was basically there running the motor.

'In essence, it was the same as no water in it and that's what burnt both motors up.'

With the problem fixed, Mast joined 11 other drivers in announcing they would attempt to requalify just before a bank of clouds rolled in over the Speedway.

Mast was the only driver to make the field on time, and his tour around the 1.54-mile tri-oval was completed in 28.996 seconds at a speed of 191.199 mph, fast enough to lock
down the 26th starting slot.

'Today we went out and it was like I was on a different race track,' said Mast.

'I went out twice and we were like a second off of what we had run yesterday, but I told the guys not to mess with the car.

'All we did was just put a set of tyres on it and make a lap and the car really stuck a lot better than I thought.

'I left a good bit out there, but I thought the racetrack was gonna be slicker than it was and it wasn't, so we'll take it and go on to Sunday.'

Now that Mast is in the field for Sunday's season finale, if he makes it to the chequered flag, Mast will not only be the lone driver this season to have no DNF's, he will be the first driver to finish all races on a full season schedule since Dale Earnhardt accomplished the same with his #3 GM Goodwrench Chevrolet out of Richard Childress Racing in 1997.

Six of the drivers who made a second attempt went home. Hut Stricklin, Derrike Cope, Darrell Waltrip, Stacy Compton, Ricky Craven and Morgan Shepherd - all had no provisionals available.

Bobby Labonte had to use his first provisional this season to make the grid.

The remaining six went to Mike Skinner, Terry Labonte, Kyle Petty, David Green, Brett
Bodine and Dave Marcis.

Seven-time series champion, Earnhardt, stood on Friday's time and will start 36th.