Jeff Burton won the NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard, lapping Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 49.240 seconds at 182.778 mph. Casey Mears holds the trackqualifying record of 48.311 seconds, 186.293 mph – set Aug. 7, 2004.
This is Burtons fifth career Bud Pole in 424 NEXTEL Cup Series races.
This is his third Bud Pole and ninth top-10 start in 2006. He became the just the second driver to post more than two Bud Poles in 2006, joining Kasey Kahne (four). Greg Biffle (two), Kurt Busch (two), Denny Hamlin (two) and Ryan Newman (two) are the other multiple Bud Pole winners this season.
This is Burtons first Bud Pole and first start better than 16th in 13 NEXTEL Cup Series race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His previous best start here was 16th in 1999.
Burton became the 10th different Bud Pole winner in 13 races at Indianapolis. Jeff Gordon (1995, 1996 and 1999 and Ernie Irvan (1997 and 1998) are the only repeat Brickyard Bud Pole winners.
Clint Bowyer posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 49.242 seconds, 182.771 mph and will join Burton on the front row for the Allstate 400 at the Brickyard. Bowyer posted his fourth top-10 start of 2006 in setting his career-best starting position in his 23rd NEXTEL Cup race. This is the best-ever start by a Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender at Indianapolis.
Burton and Bowyer gave car-owner Richard Childress the first front-row sweep since Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield started on the front row for Evernham Motorsports at Charlotte in May of this season. It is the only car-owner front-row sweep at Indianapolis and just the second time that a manufacturer has won the top-two starting positions here. Ricky Rudd and Darrell Waltrip started 1-2 in Fords.
This is the seventh Bud Pole for Chevrolet in 2006. Dodge has nine Bud Poles and Ford has four. Qualifying was canceled at Bristol.
Kurt Busch (third) posted his second top-10 start at Indianapolis and eclipsed his previous best start of sixth, set in 2003. It is his 15th top-10 start in 2006. He is tied with Greg Biffle (seventh today) for the most top-10 starts this season.
Kasey Kahne (fourth) tied his best Indianapolis qualifying effort set in 2005. His other Brickyard start was 12th in 2004.
Jimmie Johnson (fifth) posted his third top-10 start in five Indianapolis races. His other two starts here were 37th (2000) and 42nd (2005).
Ken Schrader (11th) posted his best start since he qualified seventh at Bristol in August 2005.
Mike Skinner (17th) was the fastest of the drivers that had to make the field on time and qualified for his second race this season.
Chad Chaffin (25th) posted his career-best qualifying effort. His best start in his previous seven Nextel Cup races was 31st at Martinsville in April.
Six drivers qualified for their first race at Indianapolis: Bowyer, J.J. Yeley (sixth), Denny Hamlin (14th), David Stremme (24th), Chaffin, and Reed Sorenson (41st). The last time there was not a Waltrip in the field was the final race of the 1975 season at Ontario (Nov. 23, 1975).
The third-place starting position is the only position to produce more than one race winner at Indianapolis: Jeff Gordon (1994 and 98) and Bobby Labonte (2000).
The Brickyard 400 has been won from a top-10 starting position seven of 12 times.
The furthest back a race winner has started at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was 27th by Jeff Gordon in 2001.(NASCAR Statisical Services)(8-5-2006)
