Kyle Busch puts Toyota on top again

Kyle Busch

Kyle Busch captured his second consecutive pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday, but will have to start at the rear of the field after the No. 18 JGR M&M's Toyota team changed engines prior to Friday's qualifying session. Kyle's Brother, Kurt, qualified second in the Penske Miller Lite Dodge.

Busch recorded a new track record with a lap of 185.995 mph, his 13th career pole. His day started bad he blew the engine in his Toyota just four laps into the first practice session. He will now have to drop to the back during the initial pace laps of Sunday's Shelby 427 and Jimmie Johnson, who qualified 3rd, will slot up into the front row.

Kyle's brother, Kurt, qualified second and will roll off next to him during that first pace lap to make it an all Busch front row, for the first time, in front of the hometown fans.

Kyle Busch waits to blow away the competition in qualifying

Toyota

"We had a great adjustment that we made on the Miller Lite Dodge after practice to pick up the speed that we did, so it felt really good," Busch said. "We tried to get the pole, but came up a bit short. It’s better than where we have been."

The Busches are from Las Vegas, so it's possible the grid was computer generated to increase ticket sales. These coincidences happen quite often in NASCAR.

Three-time Las Vegas winner Jimmie Johnson, who qualified third, will now inherit the pole for the race that was extended this year from 400 miles to 427.5 miles.

David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose rounded out the top five. For Ambrose, it was his career-best qualifying effort in 14 starts.

Matt Kenseth will have to come from the back of the field in his attempt to make NASCAR history by scoring his third consecutive win. He will start 40th after turning a lap of 182.143 mph in qualifying.

Italian Max Papis qualified for his first oval race in the Sprint Cup series, setting the 26th fastest time.

Twelve drivers broke Kasey Kahne’s March 9, 2007 qualifying record of 184.856 mph, 29.212 seconds.

Eight drivers failed to make the field: Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, Mike Garvey, Jeremy Mayfield, Sterling Marlin, Scott Riggs, Tony Raines and Dexter Bean.

Results

Lineup

Did Not Qualify:
# 28 Travis Kvapil;
# 66 Dave Blaney;
# 73 Mike Garvey;
# 41 Jeremy Mayfield;
# 09 Sterling Marlin;
# 36 Scott Riggs;
# 37 Tony Raines;
# 51 Dexter Bean.