Busch Is Best At Bristol Pole
By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
BRISTOL, Tenn. — A fixture at the front when the checkered flag has fallen lately at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch will be in an unfamiliar position when the green flag drops on Saturday at the 0.533-mile oval.
First.
Busch, who has won five of the past nine Nextel Cup races at Bristol, captured his first pole position at the track on Friday. The Penske Racing South driver turned a 124.906-mph lap in his No. 2 Dodge during qualifying for the Sharpie 500, besting Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet (124.808).
LINEUP: Sharpie 500
Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.
Despite scoring eight top-10 finishes here, Busch hadn't been a strong qualifier at the high-banked concrete track. Before claiming his fourth pole position of the season and the seventh of his career, his average starting position at Bristol was 18th.
Through the first 23 races, Busch's average starting position (8.74) was tops among NASCAR drivers who had started every event.
"I guess I'm teamed up with a group that can qualify now," said Busch, who joined Penske this year after five seasons with Roush Racing. "Qualifying here is definitely tough because if you miss it just a little bit there's 20 guys between you and the first-place guy."
Busch will enjoy a head start on the mayhem that typically envelops the cereal-bowl shaped oval for its annual night race. A crowd of about 160,000 fans will pack the Colosseum-style arena with hopes of seeing tempers flare. Emotions boiled over during the track's March 26 wreck, which ended with Jeff Gordon shoving Matt Kenseth on pit road after being spun on the last lap. more on qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway
BRISTOL, Tenn. — A fixture at the front when the checkered flag has fallen lately at Bristol Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch will be in an unfamiliar position when the green flag drops on Saturday at the 0.533-mile oval.
First.
Busch, who has won five of the past nine Nextel Cup races at Bristol, captured his first pole position at the track on Friday. The Penske Racing South driver turned a 124.906-mph lap in his No. 2 Dodge during qualifying for the Sharpie 500, besting Jeff Burton's No. 31 Chevrolet (124.808).
LINEUP: Sharpie 500
Bobby Labonte, Matt Kenseth and Tony Stewart rounded out the top five.
Despite scoring eight top-10 finishes here, Busch hadn't been a strong qualifier at the high-banked concrete track. Before claiming his fourth pole position of the season and the seventh of his career, his average starting position at Bristol was 18th.
Through the first 23 races, Busch's average starting position (8.74) was tops among NASCAR drivers who had started every event.
"I guess I'm teamed up with a group that can qualify now," said Busch, who joined Penske this year after five seasons with Roush Racing. "Qualifying here is definitely tough because if you miss it just a little bit there's 20 guys between you and the first-place guy."
Busch will enjoy a head start on the mayhem that typically envelops the cereal-bowl shaped oval for its annual night race. A crowd of about 160,000 fans will pack the Colosseum-style arena with hopes of seeing tempers flare. Emotions boiled over during the track's March 26 wreck, which ended with Jeff Gordon shoving Matt Kenseth on pit road after being spun on the last lap. more on qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home