For all of Kyle Busch’s success at Richmond, he’s never been the pole-sitter for a Sprint Cup race, something that will change tonight at the Heath Calhoun 400.
“It’s nice to sit on the pole every once in a while,” he said. “I only get the opportunity maybe once a year, if I’m lucky.”
The pole is his first since March of last year. The question will be whether he can turn that position into a victory when the sun goes down and track conditions dramatically change.
It’s accepted at Richmond that a strong qualifying lap doesn’t mean all that much when the green flag drops, because the track behaves so differently. Asked about what adjustments he’d make, second-best qualifier David Reutimann played coy, perhaps because competitor Jimmie Johnson was listening in.
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Kyle Busch Earns Pole for Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Race at Richmond
“I’m not smart enough to remember what it does anyway,” Reutimann said with a laugh. “Jimmie’s got it all memorized.”
“I was hoping you had something good for me to pick up on,” Johnson responded. Richmond Times Dispatch
The pole, in Busch’s 196th Sprint Cup event, gave him his choice of pit stalls as he defends his victory in this race a year ago.
“It’s nice to sit on the pole every once in a while,” Busch said of his first pole position since March 2009 in Las Vegas. “I only get the opportunity maybe once a year.”
Busch, who swept both races here a year ago, also won the pole for Friday’s Nationwide Series race on the 0.75-mile oval, giving him a good start to the weekend.
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon, who said the air has been cleared in their well-publicized feud of the past two weeks, will start in the second row, followed by Ryan Newman, Brad Keselowski, Kevin Harvick and Jamie McMurray. Yahoo! Eurosport
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 2 0 David Reutimann Toyota 3 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 4 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 5 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 6 12 Brad Keselowski Dodge 7 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 8 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 9 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 10 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 11 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 12 82 Scott Speed Toyota 13 36 Casey Mears Chevrolet 14 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 15 43 A.J. Allmendinger Ford 16 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 17 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 18 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 19 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 20 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 21 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 22 9 Kasey Kahne Ford 23 20 Joey Logano Toyota 24 19 Elliott Sadler Ford 25 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 26 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 28 99 Carl Edwards Ford 29 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 30 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 31 71 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 32 98 Paul Menard Ford 33 16 Greg Biffle Ford 34 132 Reed Sorenson Toyota 35 6 David Ragan Ford 36 9 Mike Bliss Chevrolet 37 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 38 34 Travis Kvapil Ford 39 26 David Stremme Ford 40 37 David Gilliland Ford 41 46 Terry Cook* Dodge 42 38 Kevin Conway+* Ford 43 164 Tony Raines Toyota
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