Qualifying: Kenseth quickest
Matt Kenseth surprised even himself by taking his first ever Winston Cup pole for Sunday's MBNA 400 at Dover Downs. The Roush driver made his series debut at Dover back in 1998 and has gone well there in the past, but his speed around the 1-mile oval came almost out of the blue, and was a timely boost to team owner Jack Roush who returned to the paddock for the first time since his light aeroplane crash.
"I'm surprised [the first pole] came this soon," he admitted. "We've never really been good qualifiers, and I need a pretty good car to be able to qualify good, so I feel really good about our car here to win the pole by as much as we did."
Kenseth secured the top spot with a flying lap of 23.235s (154.938mph). Bill Elliot ran his time close, but missed out by less than a tenth of a second. Jerry Nadeau, who's standing in for the injured Johnny Benson this weekend, did a great job to take third ahead of Michael Waltrip and Kurt Busch.
Ricky Craven, Ricky Rudd, Elliott Sadler, Jeff Gordon, and Jimmie Johnson fill out the rest of the top 10, but it was a bad session for championship leader Sterling Marlin, who will line up way back in 27th.
For full qualifying results, click here.
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