Kasey Kahne won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole for the Dodge Charger 500, lapping Darlington Raceway in 29.096 seconds at 169.013 mph. Ward Burton holds the track-qualifying record of 28.295 seconds, 173.797 mph – set March 22, 1996.
Kahne is now three-for-three in qualifying at Darlington, winning the Bud Pole in all three of his qualifying session here. He started 13th in 2004 when qualifying was canceled.
This is Kahnes ninth career Bud Pole in 83 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races.
This is his third Bud Pole and seventh top-10 start in 2006.
Ryan Newman posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 29.238 seconds, 168.192 mph and will join Kahne on the front row for the Dodge Charger 500. This is Newmans fourth top-10 start in 2006 and ties Atlanta for his season-best. This is his seventh top-10 start in eight Darlington races. It is his third second-place start here. He also has one Bud Pole and one third-place start in those eight races.
This is the fourth Bud Pole for Dodge in 2006. Chevrolet and Ford each have three. Qualifying was canceled at Bristol.
The last all-Dodge front-row was Atlanta this past March, was also Kahne (first) and Newman (second).
Clint Bowyer (third) posted his career-best start and is competing in his career-first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Darlington. This is his second top-10 start this season both in the past four races.
David Stremme (fourth) also posted his career-first top-10 start. It is his first start better than 17th in his 15 career races.
Denny Hamlin (fifth) became the third rookie candidate to post a top-10 start. It is his sixth top-10 start this season and comes in his first NASCAR NEXTEL Cup race at Darlington.
This is the second time this season that three rookies qualified in the top-10. Texas had J.J. Yeley (second), Hamlin (eighth) and Martin Truex Jr. (ninth).
Terry Labonte (43rd) used a past champions provisional to make the race for the third time this season.(NASCAR Statistical Services)(5-12-2006)
