Michael Waltrip toured the 2.66 mile Talladega Superspeeday this afternoon in 50.648 sec (189.070 mph) to take the Bud Pole for tomorrow’s UAW-Ford 500. The top 11 cars were all in the go-or-go-home category, but 9/10/11 won’t be seen tomorrow. This was Waltrip’s first pole of the season and 4th of his Nextel Cup career, and qualifies him for next February’s Budweiser Shootout at Daytona (or whatever they’ll call it if they change the name). He’s the 15th different driver to win a Bud Pole this season. Dave Blaney will join Mikey on the front row. This is his best starting spot since he had the pole at Loudon in June. Brian Vickers (3rd) has his best starting spot since he had the pole at Texas last November. Toyota’s start 1-2-3 this week. Joe Nemechek (4th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Texas in November of 2005! David Reutimann (5th) has his career-best starting spot this week. His previous best was 12th at Michigan in August. Welcome, Jacques Villeneuve (6th). He makes his first career Nextel Cup start this weekend for Bill Davis. John Andretti (7th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 5th at Pocono in July of 2003! Kyle Petty (12th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 8th at Bristol last August. Tony Raines (14th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 11th at the Brickyard in August. Mike Wallace (15th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 15th at Kansas in October of 2005. J. J. Yeley (17th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 17th at Daytona in July. STREAKIN….An empty category this week….no surprise there!(Stock Car Fans)(10-7-2007)
