Kasey Kahne won the Nextel Cup Series Bud Pole for the Banquet 400, lapping Kansas Speedway in 30.273 seconds at 178.377 mph. Matt Kenseth holds the track-qualifying record of 29.858 seconds, 180.856 mph – set Oct. 8, 2005.
This is Kahnes 11th career Bud Pole in 101 Nextel Cup Series races.
This is Kahnes fifth Bud Pole in 2006. He joins Kurt Busch in the lead for the season Bud Pole Award. Jeff Burton (four), Denny Hamlin (three), Greg Biffle (two) and Ryan Newman (two) are the other multiple Bud Pole winners this season.
This is Kahnes first Bud Pole at Kansas Speedway. Kahne has started from the top 10 in two of his three races at Kansas both from the front row. His other start was 42nd. He has posted 16 top-10 starts this season.
Kahne became the sixth different Bud Pole winner in six races at Kansas Speedway.
Scott Riggs posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 30.348 seconds, 177.936 mph and will join Kahne on the front row for the Banquet 400.
This is the second 1-2 sweep of qualifying for Evernham Motorsports in 2006. Kahne won the Bud Pole at Charlotte in May and Jeremy Mayfield started on the outside of the front row. Dodge last swept the front row at Dover in June (Ryan Newman first and Mayfield second).
This is the 13th Bud Pole for Dodge in 2006. Chevrolet has 11 Bud Poles and Ford has four. Qualifying was canceled at Bristol.
Jimmie Johnson (third) has posted four top-10 starts in five races at Kansas all top fives and two from the front row. Johnson has 18 top-10 starts in 2006.
Brian Vickers (fourth) has posted his first start better than 17th in three Kansas races. He has just 10 top-10 starts this season.
J.J. Yeley (fifth) is making his first Nextel Cup start at Kansas. This is his seventh top-10 start in 2006. Clint Bowyer (sixth) is also making his first Nextel Cup start at Kansas. This is the 14th time this season for multiple rookies in the top 10.
Kurt Busch (seventh) posted his second top-10 start in six races at Kansas both in the past two races. He has started from the top 10 in 21 races this season more than any other driver.
Four of the 10 Chase drivers qualified in the top 10: Kahne, Johnson, Matt Kenseth (eighth) and Jeff Burton (10th). Denny Hamlin (25th) will start further back in the field than any other Chase driver.
Todd Kluever (22nd) was the fastest of the drivers required to make the field on time. He qualified for his third career Nextel Cup race and posted the best start of his three races.
The deepest in the field that a race winner has started at Kansas was 19th by Mark Martin in 2005.
Twenty-four of 50 top-10 finishers at Kansas Speedway also started from the top 10.(NASCAR Statisical Services)(9-29-2006)
