Kyle Busch will start from the pole Sunday in the Lifelock 400, thanks to rain that washed away qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.
The rain began pelting down after 11 of 45 drivers had completed qualifying attempts on the two-mile oval and NASCAR was forced to fill the race field by points, giving series leader Busch his third pole start of the season. He will be joined on the front row by Jeff Burton, with Dale Earnhardt Jr. and defending race winner Carl Edwards in row two.
Busch, who already has 12 wins this season _ four in Cup, four in the Nationwide Series and two in the Craftsman Truck Series _ was hoping to win them all last week while racing in Cup at Pocono, Nationwide at Nashville and trucks at Texas.
Busch had a generally miserable weekend, crashing and finishing 43rd at Pocono, winding up 20th at Nashville and salvaging things a bit with a runner-up finish at Texas.
This week, the 23-year-old wunderkind will do a triple again, with less difficult travel. He plans to drive in the truck race here Saturday afternoon, the Nationwide race Saturday night in Kentucky and return to Michigan in time to race in Sunday’s 400-mile Cup event.
“Things have gone real well,” Busch said of his busy schedule this season. “We haven’t had much weather delays or anything like that. The weather this year has actually been very cooperative.
“We weren’t all that happy with the car,” Busch said. “With what we’ve seen the last few weeks with guys starting up front, it should pay dividends. We can get those five bonus points for leading.”
Busch would take particular pride in winning for Toyota at MIS, the home track for Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford.
“That would be pretty awesome,” Busch said. “It would definitely be pretty cool to not only just win here because we want to get another win, but to win in a manufacturer’s backyard is pretty cool. I’m not sure yet that we’re the car to be able to do that. I think there are some other guys that are better than us and
we’ll try to catch up to them and see what we can learn [Saturday, in practice].”
“There’s a lot of guys that want me to drive their stuff, and that’s really flattering and pleasing to me because I love racing as much as I am,” Busch said. “Still, the focus needs to be on the Cup effort.”
Jeff Burton’s Richard Childress RacingChevrolet will start on the outside of the front row, with Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet and Carl Edwards’ Roush Fenway Ford on the second row.
“The starting position is not the key here,” Edwards said. “But you definitely always want to start up front.”
Jason Leffler, in the Haas CNC Racing No. 70 Chevrolet, and Tony Raines, in the Bob Jenkins-owned No. 34 Chevrolet, did not qualify.
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