Mayfield takes Pole at Dover

Mayfield was fastest of the afternoon with a tour around the 1-mile, high-banked concrete oval in 22.518 seconds at 159.872 mph. He wasn't fast enough, however, to break teammate Rusty Wallace's track qualifying record set on September 25, 1999. Wallace clicked off a lap in 22.505 seconds at 159.964 mph.

Rick Mast was second fast with a lap in 22.518 seconds at 158.926 mph. This is just Mast's third top-5 start for the 2000 season. He qualified third at Michigan Speedway last month, and fourth at Richmond International Raceway two weeks ago.

Following Mayfield and Mast to round out the top-10 are Johnny Benson, Rusty Wallace, Mark Martin, Ward Burton, Bill Elliott, Dale Jarrett, Jeff Gordon and Kurt Busch.

Busch, who is making his first-ever NASCAR Winston Cup Series start in the #97 John Deere Ford, also snagged the Bud Pole for the MBNA e-commerce.com 200 on Friday night - the first-ever appearance of the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at 'The Monster Mile.'

Busch crashed his pole-winning truck in practice just hours later. The crew rolled out the backup truck with the realisation that they just got bit by the Monster.

"Racing is a huge roller coaster," said Busch. "One minute you're winning the pole and the next they're bringing out the backup truck." Busch will head up the field on the parade lap and then drop to the rear of the field for the drop of the green.

Terry Labonte managed to hang onto the 25th and final spot during first-round qualifying.

Some of the drivers who didn't make the first cut are Jimmy Spencer, Tony Stewart, Steve Park, John Andretti, Matt Kenseth, Bobby Hamilton, Darrell Waltrip and Dale Earnhardt.

Bud Second-Round Fastest qualifying is scheduled to take the green at 1130 am EDT (1630BST) on Saturday Final practice will following the conclusion of the NASCAR Busch Series, Grand National event.


1 12 Jeremy Mayfield (Ford), 22.518, 159.872
2 14 Rick Mast (Pontiac), 22.652 158.926

3 10 Johnny Benson (Pontiac), 22.670, 158.800
4 2 Rusty Wallace (Ford), 22.694, 158.632

5 6 Mark Martin (Ford), 22.725, 158.416
6 22 Ward Burton (Pontiac), 22.735, 158.346

7 94 Bill Elliott (Ford), 22.741, 158.304
8 88 Dale Jarrett (Ford), 22.745, 158.277

9 24 Jeff Gordon (Chevrolet), 22.773, 158.082
10 97 Kurt Busch (Ford), 22.794, 157.936

11 25 Jerry Nadeau (Chevrolet), 22.798, 157.909
12 33 Joe Nemechek (Chevrolet), 22.809, 157.832

13 8 D.Earnhardt Jr (Chevrolet), 22.817, 157.777
14 77 Robert Pressley (Ford), 22.869, 157.418

15 28 Ricky Rudd (Ford), 22.869, 157.418
16 93 Dave Blaney (Pontiac), 22.875, 157.377

17 18 Bobby Labonte (Pontiac), 22.885, 157.308
18 36 Ken Schrader (Pontiac), 22.898, 157.219

19 27 Mike Bliss (Pontiac), 22.937, 156.952
20 7 Michael Waltrip (Chevrolet), 22.937, 156.952

21 99 Jeff Burton (Ford), 22.947, 156.883
22 21 Elliott Sadler (Ford), 22.953, 156.842

23 55 Kenny Wallace (Chevrolet), 22.963, 156.774
24 31 Mike Skinner (Chevrolet), 22.984, 156.631

25 5 Terry Labonte (Chevrolet), 22.984, 156.631

DID NOT QUALIFY:
26 26 Jimmy Spencer (Ford), 23.037, 156.270
27 20 Tony Stewart (Pontiac), 23.039, 156.257
28 1 Steve Park (Chevrolet), 23.045, 156.216
29 43 John Andretti (Pontiac), 23.080, 155.979
30 16 Kevin Lepage (Ford), 23.099, 155.851
31 17 Matt Kenseth (Ford), 23.108, 155.790
32 75 W. Dallenbach (Ford), 23.114, 155.750
33 1 Ted Musgrave (Chevrolet), 23.115, 155.743
34 32 Scott Pruett (Ford), 23.140, 155.575
35 4 Bobby Hamilton (Chevrolet), 23.162, 155.427
36 66 Darrell Waltrip (Ford), 23.166, 155.400
37 40 Sterling Marlin (Chevrolet), 23.184, 155.280
38 44 Steve Grissom (Pontiac), 23.241, 154.899
39 3 Dale Earnhardt (Chevrolet), 23.249, 154.845
40 71 Dave Marcis (Chevrolet), 23.350, 154.176
41 90 Hut Stricklin (Ford), 23.384, 153.951
42 11 Brett Bodine (Ford), 23.410, 153.780
43 9 Stacy Compton (Ford), 23.447, 153.538
44 60 Joe Bessey (Chevrolet), 23.625, 152.381
45 85 Carl Long (Ford), 23.907, 150.584