Ragan takes Busch pole at Homestead
David Ragan scored his second Busch Series pole position of the year in qualifying for the Ford 300 at Homestead Miami Speedway
Ragan set a laptime of 31.129 seconds at an average speed of 173.472 mph, beating new series' champion Carl Edwards by nearly two tenths of a second.
The soon to be crowned rookie of the year claimed the last ever pole under the Busch Series name, as the series will be renamed Nationwide from 2008.
"I'm really looking forward to the race," said Ragan, who will start sixth in Sunday's Nextel Cup race. "This is possibly the toughest race of the year.
"Everybody wants to win that last race or at least run well so we're going to work really hard and hopefully we'll learn some things from today's Busch race. I know I will."
"I know the cars are a little different but if I can get a little heads-up on everybody and we'll see what happens today and hopefully we'll have some fun for tomorrow."
Dave Blaney qualified third ahead of Kevin Harvick, who drives the No. 21 RCR entry that he took to victory for the first time this year at the season opener at Daytona.
Both Blaney and Harvick are on triple duty this weekend, competing in the Trucks, the Busch Series and the Cup race.
Jamie McMurray and the fastest Dodge qualifier, Sam Hornish Jr, will be filling the third row for tonight's 300-mile event. Hornish almost matched his best qualifying result of the year and is making his eleventh Busch Series start.
Last year's event winner Matt Kenseth will be starting from 13th, behind Busch Series' all-time victories record holder Mark Martin. The NASCAR veteran will be driving the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports entry that Kyle Busch took to victory at Phoenix a week ago.
Dario Franchitti held on to provisional pole for a while, but as the track got cooler, times continuously improved and the Scot ended up 20th. Similarly, Patrick Carpentier ran early in the session and put his car on provisional pole, but then slipped down the order to 28th place.
Jeff Burton will drive the No. 29 entry in the final race of the year, where he is set to clinch the owners' title for Richard Childress.
DJ Kennington, Kertus Davis, Jennifer Jo Cobb and Eric McLure, all failed to qualify.
Pos Driver Car Time Speed
1. David Ragan Ford 31.129 173.472
2. Carl Edwards Ford +0.183 172.458
3. Dave Blaney Toyota +0.205 172.337
4. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet +0.260 172.035
5. Jamie McMurray Ford +0.271 171.975
6. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge +0.283 171.909
7. Greg Biffle Ford +0.293 171.854
8. Kasey Kahne Dodge +0.339 171.603
9. Casey Mears Chevrolet +0.369 171.439
10. Stephen Leicht Ford +0.444 171.032
11. Aric Almirola Chevrolet +0.464 170.924
12. Mark Martin Chevrolet +0.521 170.616
13. Matt Kenseth Ford +0.553 170.444
14. Steve Wallace Dodge +0.569 170.358
15. Todd Bodine Toyota +0.613 170.122
16. JJ Yeley Chevrolet +0.623 170.068
17. David Reutimann Toyota +0.627 170.047
18. Marcos Ambrose Ford +0.664 169.849
19. Jason Leffler Toyota +0.674 169.795
20. Dario Franchitti Dodge +0.683 169.747
21. Jason Keller Chevrolet +0.695 169.683
22. Denny Hamlin Chevrolet +0.699 169.662
23. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet +0.704 169.635
24. Kelly Bires Ford +0.705 169.63
25. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet +0.723 169.534
26. Michael McDowell Toyota +0.825 168.993
27. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet +0.864 168.787
28. Patrick Carpentier Dodge +0.918 168.503
29. AJ Allmendinger Dodge +0.948 168.345
30. Jeff Burton Chevrolet +1.011 168.015
31. Mike Bliss Dodge +1.041 167.858
32. Mike Wallace Chevrolet +1.166 167.208
33. Brian Keselowski Dodge +1.173 167.172
34. Bobby Hamilton Jr Ford +1.215 166.955
35. Morgan Shepherd Dodge +1.219 166.935
36. Jeremy Clements Chevrolet +1.298 166.528
37. Richard Johns Ford +1.374 166.139
38. Kyle Krisiloff Ford +1.515 165.421
39. Tony Raines Chevrolet +1.524 165.375
40. Bobby East Ford +1.735 164.314
41. John Graham Ford +1.757 164.204
42. Robert Richardson Chevrolet +2.931 158.525
43. Mark Green Chevrolet +1.246 166.795
Did not qualify
DJ Kennington Dodge +1.330 166.364
Kertus Davis Chevrolet +1.348 166.271
Jennifer Cobb Chevrolet +1.450 165.751
Eric McClure Chevrolet +1.483 165.583
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