Tony Stewart won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole for the Subway 500, lapping Martinsville Speedway in 19.306 seconds at 98.083 mph. He broke Ryan Newmans track-qualifying record of 19.513 seconds, 97.043 mph, set Oct. 22, 2004.
The top 11 qualifiers broke Newmans qualifying record.
This is Stewarts 10th career Bud Pole in 244 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races.
This is his third Bud Pole and 18th top-10 start in 2005.
This is Stewarts third Bud Pole and seventh top-10 start in 14 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.
Ricky Rudd posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 19.324 seconds, 97.992 mph and will join Stewart on the front row for the Subway 500. It is Rudds 27th top-10 start in 53 races at Martinsville, but just his second in the past nine. This is his best start this season and his best since he started on the Bud Pole at Talladega in April 2004.
This is the 13th Bud Pole for Chevrolet in 2005. Dodge has nine Bud Poles and Ford has eight. Qualifying was canceled at Dover in June and Watkins Glen.
Rusty Wallace (third) has started from the top 10 in 34 of his 44 races at Martinsville. It is his 11th top-10 start in 2005.
Ryan Newman (fourth) has posted eight top-10 starts in as many races at Martinsville. Newman has a series leading 26 top-10 starts this season, including six Bud Poles.
Denny Hamlin (fifth) posted his second top-10 start in his three-race NASCAR NEXTEL Cup career. He started seventh at Kansas City.
Only five of the 10 Chase drivers qualified in the top 10: Stewart, Wallace, Newman, Jimmie Johnson (sixth) and Jeremy Mayfield (seventh). None of the five Roush cars qualified in the top 10. Mark Martin 35th was the lowest qualifying Chase driver
Kyle Petty (13th) posted his best start since he started 10th at Richmond in September 2003.(NASCAR Statisical Services)(10-21-2005)
