Wallace takes first Busch pole
Steve Wallace, son of 1989 Cup champion Rusty Wallace, claimed his first ever pole position in the Busch Series during qualifying for the Sharpie Mini 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway
Wallace, who had started third in this same race a year ago, set a fastest lap of 15.303 seconds in his No. 66 Dodge Charger, with an average speed of 125.387mph.
Ryan Newman, who takes over Penske's Busch entry for this weekend, was the first car on track for his qualifying run and held pole position for most of the session. He eventually finished second behind Wallace with a lap of 15.348 seconds, and an average speed of 125.020mph, making an all-Dodge front row.
Interestingly, Wallace's pole time was only eight thousands of a second from Jeff Gordon's pole for the Nextel Cup race, set with the new Car of Tomorrow. The Busch Series is racing the same car as previous events, more similar to the current specification of Cup cars but nearly 100bhp less powerful.
Points leader Carl Edwards had a good qualifying, finishing the session third just two thousands of a second away from Newman's time in his No. 60 Roush Racing Ford. Clint Bowyer will line up beside him on the second row of the grid in the No. 2 Richard Chlidress Chevrolet.
As for previous race-winners at Bristol, Kyle Busch who won last year, will line up seventh, two places ahead of Busch champion Kevin Harvick who returns to drive his team's car this weekend.
Matt Kenseth, who also had a Bristol victory last year, will start from 11th.
Brad Kaselowski emerged as the fastest rookie qualifier in 12th while Dave Blaney, who runs third in the points, finished as the top Toyota qualifier in 16th.
Juan Pablo Montoya continued his struggle at Bristol and will line up 34th on the grid.
With the entry numbering exactly 43 cars this weekend, the entire field qualified for this afternoon's race.
Qualifying times:
Pos Driver Make Speed Time 1. Steve Wallace Dodge 125.387 15.303 2. Ryan Newman Dodge 125.020 15.348 + 0.045 3. Carl Edwards Ford 124.995 15.351 + 0.048 4. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 124.963 15.355 + 0.052 5. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 124.816 15.373 + 0.070 6. Greg Biffle Ford 124.792 15.376 + 0.073 7. Kyle Busch Chevrolet 124.622 15.397 + 0.094 8. Ward Burton Ford 124.581 15.402 + 0.099 9. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 124.517 15.410 + 0.107 10. Mike Bliss Dodge 124.396 15.425 + 0.122 11. Matt Kenseth Ford 124.387 15.426 + 0.123 12. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 124.122 15.459 + 0.156 13. David Gilliland Ford 124.042 15.469 + 0.166 14. Shane Huffman Chevrolet 123.841 15.494 + 0.191 15. Aric Almirola Chevrolet 123.706 15.511 + 0.208 16. Dave Blaney Toyota 123.515 15.535 + 0.232 17. Kasey Kahne Dodge 123.507 15.536 + 0.233 18. Jason Leffler Toyota 123.499 15.537 + 0.234 19. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 123.499 15.537 + 0.234 20. David Ragan Ford 123.356 15.555 + 0.252 21. Regan Smith Chevrolet 123.324 15.559 + 0.256 22. Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 123.308 15.561 + 0.258 23. David Reutimann Toyota 123.174 15.578 + 0.275 24. Reed Sorenson Dodge 122.976 15.603 + 0.300 25. J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 122.874 15.616 + 0.313 26. Timothy Peters Chevrolet 122.850 15.619 + 0.316 27. Kevin Conway Chevrolet 122.772 15.629 + 0.326 28. Stanton Barrett Chevrolet 122.709 15.637 + 0.334 29. Jon Wood Ford 122.709 15.637 + 0.334 30. Mike Wallace Chevrolet 122.685 15.640 + 0.337 31. Stephen Leicht Ford 122.654 15.644 + 0.341 32. Bobby Hamilton Jr. Ford 122.388 15.678 + 0.375 33. Johnny Sauter Chevrolet 122.341 15.684 + 0.381 34. Juan Montoya Dodge 122.178 15.705 + 0.402 35. Brent Sherman Chevrolet 121.999 15.728 + 0.425 36. Marcos Ambrose Ford 121.991 15.729 + 0.426 37. Jay Sauter Chevrolet 121.922 15.738 + 0.435 38. Todd Kluever Ford 121.535 15.788 + 0.485 39. Caleb Holman Chevrolet 121.412 15.804 + 0.501 40. Danny O'Quinn Jr. Chevrolet 121.205 15.831 + 0.528 41. Eric McClure Chevrolet 120.915 15.869 + 0.566 42. Brad Teague Ford 118.452 16.199 + 0.896 43. Kyle Krisiloff Ford 114.065 16.822 + 1.519
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