Las Vegas, NV (Best E Casino) - To the delight of the fans, Las Vegas native Kyle Busch captured the pole for Sunday's UAW-Dodge 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No.18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota driver circled the variable- banked, 1.5-mile speedway in 29.613 seconds (182.352 m.p.h.).
The pole victory was Busch's first of the season and third of his Sprint Cup career. His last pole was in 2006 at Phoenix.
"That was pretty awesome," said Busch. "It was a little tight, but I just drove through the tightness...luckily it sucked good enough to where we were able to clear all the walls and not hit anything."
Starting alongside Busch will be last week's Auto Club 500 winner Carl Edwards, who posted a second-best time of 29.738 seconds.
Mark Martin (29.786) and Jeff Gordon (29.795) will make up row two.
"It was magic there in (turns) one and two," said Gordon over the radio. "I probably got a little overzealous into turn three because I carried a little too much speed and got off the white line."
Other drivers of interest and their starting positions: Dale Earnhardt Jr. (8th), Matt Kenseth (13th), Ryan Newman (15th), Kevin Harvick (17th), Clint Bowyer (21st) Juan Pablo Montoya (32nd) and Jimmie Johnson (34th).
Looking at the standings, it's interesting to note the balance between the manufacturers. Dodge and Chevrolet have placed three cars each in the top-10 while Toyota and Ford have two cars. After last year's 18-win domination by Hendrick Motorsports and a total of 26 wins from Chevrolet, its nice to see everyone have a legitimate shot again. NASCAR officials couldn't ask for better parity.
While the Daytona 500 is the "Super Bowl" for Sprint Cup drivers and teams, the Auto Club 500 was probably a better indication of what the year has in store for NASCAR fans.
In last weekend's race, they left the restrictor-plate behind and horsepower along with handling provided your winning car. In the final 15 laps, Edwards passed Johnson on both the bottom and the top of the track, showing all the power and maneuverability needed to get around the two-time series champion.
In fact, four of five Roush-Fenway Racing Fords finished in the top-15. Kenseth, with his usual solid performance, finished fifth, David Ragan finished 14th and Greg Biffle, who looked very good in the cool Sunday evening air, still finished 15th under the hot Monday sun.
With or without a restrictor-plate, both Kyle Busch and Stewart seem to be championship contenders. There seems to be no weakness in the combination of Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota, except for the three explosive personalities behind the wheel. If Stewart, Busch and Denny Hamlin can all get along, they will compete for the title.
But the championship still goes through Hendrick Motorsports.
Last year's 18-win season may be a memory, but with Johnson, four-time series champion Gordon and Earnhardt Jr. driving, they will compete for the win every time out.
Johnson and Gordon rebounded from their Daytona 500 disappointments finishing second and third, respectively at the newly renamed Auto Club Speedway (formerly California Speedway). At LVMS Gordon has one win among five top- fives in 10 starts, while Johnson has three wins among four top-10s in just eight starts.
On Sunday the green flag is scheduled to drop at 4:30 p.m. (et).
