It’s only fitting that on Championship Weekend we’ve got a Ford on the pole for the Ford 400. #99-Carl Edwards captured his second Bud Pole of the season (and of his career) today, edging out Ryan Newman by .002 of a second. He’ll lead ’em to the green on Sunday with a qualifying speed of 176.051 mph. His only other pole came at California in September.
#9-Kasey Kahne (3rd) has his best starting spot since he had the outside pole at Dover in September.
#5-Kyle Busch (4th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 3rd at Dover in that same September race.
#41-Casey Mears (6th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 3rd at Chicagoland in July.
#42-Jamie McMurray (8th) has his best starting spot since he had the pole at Pocono in July.
#09-Reed Sorenson (15th) has his career-best starting spot this weekend. He lined up 22nd at Atlanta in his only other NEXTEL Cup start.
#31-Jeff Burton (16th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 14th at Loudon in July.
#39-David Stremme (22nd) has his career-best starting spot this week as well. His previous best was 31st at Chicagoland in July.
Welcome Back a Red Hot #4-Todd Bodine (24th). This is his best starting spot since he lined up 24th at Atlanta in October of 2004…..and he’s won three Truck races in a row.
#7-Paul Menard (39th) has his career-best starting spot this weekend also (if he stays in the car….it’s Robby Gordon’s ride). His previous best was 40th at Watkins Glen in August.
STREAKIN….#12-Ryan Newman has 5 Top-5 starts in the last 6 races.
The final Trouble Train of the year looks the same as it’s been most of the season. Chad Chaffin, Mike Garvey, Derrike Cope, Carl Long, and Morgan Shepherd are the dnq’s this weekend, and for the #92 (attempted this weekend by Chaffin) that’s 23 times this season they’ve failed to make the field. Gotta be some kinda award for perserverance.
Hopefully (weather permitting) we’ll crown a Champion tomorrow, and you can expect a ton of “If the race were to end now” scenarios all day long from the TV gang. Gonna be tough to surpass last year, tho….. (Stock Car Fans)(11-19-2005)
