Busch, the Las Vegas native who graduated from Durango High, finished first in qualifying for Sunday’s Shelby American NASCAR Sprint Cup race Friday afternoon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with a track record 28.614-second lap.
“I’m stoked,” Busch said. “To do it here in my hometown of Las Vegas, it’s fun for me and all of the fans who were here today.”
For years, Busch has vocalized how special a win in his hometown would be. Now, he’ll have the pole in his bid to do so.
“This is definitely cool to sit on the pole,” Busch said. “It’s great just to have a buzz around the team.”
Busch is hoping history repeats itself in some fashion. Last year, his younger brother, Kyle Busch, set a track record on qualifying day and parlayed it into a victory on Sunday. Las Vegas Sun
Jeff Gordon, who won at Las Vegas in 2001, secured the outside pole with a lap at 188.646 m.p.h.
“Obviously, we would like to be on the pole, but Kurt had a great lap there,” Gordon said. “I felt like we got a little bit free off of [turn] four, and that might have been the difference, because it was pretty close.”
Ryan Newman qualified third, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the fourth spot. Earnhardt Jr. is coming off a 32nd-place finish at California after he suffered a broken axle in the late-stages.
Kyle Busch, the defending race winner, completed the top-five.
Joey Logano will start sixth, followed by Greg Biffle, Mark Martin, Tony Stewart and Juan Pablo Montoya, who was fastest in Friday’s practice. MiamiHerald.com
Kurt Busch took to the track with the same crew chief—Steve Addington—who guided Kyle to victory at Las Vegas last year. Relieved of his duties at Joe Gibbs Racing late last season, Addington accepted an offer with Kurt’s No. 2 Penske Racing Dodge team during the offseason.
“I’ve got the right guy in my camp,” said Busch, who won his first pole since 2007, his first in NASCAR’s new race car and the 11th of his career. “It seems like Steve Addington definitely has his game on here at this track. I just hope that bleeds over to Sunday.
“I would say we used a combination of what I was familiar with and what he [Addington] liked. Right now, that’s our plan of attack each week. We had success last year with our [car]. It feels good to have Addington’s notes and knowledge to blend into that. ... It feels really neat here in our hometown, Las Vegas.” NASCAR
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NASCAR Sprint Cup Series: Shelby American at Las Vegas - Race Line-Up
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