NASCAR: Kurt Busch Takes California Pole

Joining Busch on the front row is Jimmie Johnson, while defending race winner Kasey Kahne qualified third.

Photo courtesy: californiaspeedway.com

FONTANA, Calif. - Kurt Busch survived the heat of the California Speedway track and an uncertain setup on his Dodge to clinch the Bud Pole for Sunday's NASCAR NEXTEL CUP Sharp Aquos 500 during Laughlin Qualifying Day at California Speedway.

Busch's first Bud Pole of 2007, earned with a lap of 39.474 seconds (182.399 mph), was also his third Pole in 11 races at California Speedway.

He has six top-10 starts on the two-mile, D-shaped oval and he has finished fourth or better in all six, including a victory in 2003.

Joining Busch on the front row is Jimmie Johnson, while defending race winner Kasey Kahne qualified third.

"I didn't think we had a shot at the pole. I was just looking for a nice consistent run," said Busch, who holds the 12th and final spot in the Chase for the NEXTEL Cup and is coming off a win two weeks ago at Michigan. "After we got done with practice, the numbers that we thought we had didn't show up on the scales, so we just changed it here, changed it there, just threw a setup at it that we thought would be close to where we wanted to be, and lo and behold, we got a pole."

So did Denny Hamlin in Saturday's Busch Series Camping World 300 Presented by RVs.com.

The leader in NASCAR NEXTEL CUP top-10 starts in 2007 with 17, Hamlin navigated California Speedway in 39.930 seconds (180.316 mph) to earn his fifth Busch Series pole of the season.

Sharp Aquos 500 Lineup

POS CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND

1. 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 182.398 39.474

2. 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's / Jimmie Johnson Foundation 182.394 39.475 -0.001

3. 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 182.020 39.556 -0.082

4. 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Kodak think: 181.415 39.688 -0.214

5. 5 Kyle Busch Chevrolet Cheez-It / CARQUEST 181.342 39.704 -0.230

6. 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Dodge Dealers / UAW 181.333 39.706 -0.232

7. 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 181.132 39.750 -0.276

8. 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 180.818 39.819 -0.345

9. 11 Denny Hamlin Chevrolet FedEx Express 180.805 39.822 -0.348

10. 16 Greg Biffle Ford Aflac 180.605 39.866 -0.392

11. 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Totino's Pizza Rolls 180.596 39.868 -0.394

12. 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 180.542 39.880 -0.406

13. 25 Casey Mears Chevrolet National Guard / GMAC 180.542 39.880 -0.406

14. 38 David Gilliland Ford M&M's 180.533 39.882 -0.408

15. 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Richard Childress Racing 180.338 39.925 -0.451

16. 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont Cromax Pro 180.185 39.959 -0.485

17. 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 180.144 39.968 -0.494

18. 84 A.J. Allmendinger* Toyota Red Bull 180.085 39.981 -0.507

19. 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot Worklife Rewards 179.937 40.014 -0.540

20. 15 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Johns Manville / Menards 179.856 40.032 -0.558

21. 40 David Stremme Dodge Target 179.721 40.062 -0.588

22. 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 179.502 40.111 -0.637

23. 18 J.J. Yeley Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 179.497 40.112 -0.638

24. 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet DIRECTV 179.417 40.130 -0.656

25. 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA Auto Parts 179.332 40.149 -0.675

26. 21 Bill Elliott Ford Motorcraft 179.305 40.155 -0.681

27. 36 Jeremy Mayfield Toyota 360 OTC 179.207 40.177 -0.703

28. 00 David Reutimann* Toyota Burger King 179.202 40.178 -0.704

29. 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row Racing 179.024 40.218 -0.744

30. 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 178.904 40.245 -0.771

31. 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target / Memorex 178.824 40.263 -0.789

32. 66 Jeff Green Chevrolet Best Buy 178.594 40.315 -0.841

33. 6 David Ragan* Ford AAA Insurance 178.576 40.319 -0.845

34. 96 Tony Raines Chevrolet DLP HDTV 178.545 40.326 -0.852

35. 7 Robby Gordon Ford Original Roadhouse Grill / Jim Beam 178.372 40.365 -0.891

36. 17 Matt Kenseth Ford R+L Carriers 178.297 40.382 -0.908

37. 88 Ricky Rudd Ford Snickers Generation Max 178.258 40.391 -0.917

38. 26 Jamie McMurray Ford Sharp AQUOS / 3M Vikuiti 178.024 40.444 -0.970

39. 45 Kyle Petty+ Dodge Wells Fargo 176.796 40.725 -1.251

40. 01 Aric Almirola+ Chevrolet U.S. Army 175.204 41.095 -1.621

41. 70 Johnny Sauter+ Chevrolet Haas Automation 174.757 41.200 -1.726

42. 42 Juan Montoya+* Dodge Wrigley's Big Red - - -

43. 49 John Andretti Dodge Paralyzed Veterans of America 178.722 40.286 -0.812

Did Not Qualify

44. 10 Scott Riggs Dodge Sears Auto Center / Valvoline / Stanley 178.709 40.289 -0.815

45. 4 Ward Burton Chevrolet Lucas Oil / State Water Heaters 177.993 40.451 -0.977

46. 44 Dale Jarrett Toyota UPS 177.405 40.585 -1.111

+ Set by Owner Points

* Denotes Rookie

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