Kurt Busch, seen here from earlier action, put his car on the pole for Saturday night’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Photo by John Harrelson/Harrelson Photography Inc.
High speeds seem to suit Kurt Busch.
A day after driving an IndyCar at 218 mph during rookie orientation at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Kurt Busch put his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet SS on the pole for Saturday night’s Bojangles’ Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway—and he did so in track-record fashion.
Busch toured the Lady in Black in 27.032 seconds (181.918 mph) in Friday’s time trials to win the 16th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole of his career, his second at Darlington and his first since 2011 at Michigan. Busch broke the former track record of 181.250 mph (27.131 mph) set by Kasey Kahne in 2011.
Series leader Jimmie Johnson will line up on the outside of the front row after a lap at 180.974 mph (27.173 mph). Kurt’s brother Kyle Busch qualified third at 180.920 mph. Kahne qualified fourth Friday at 180.741 mph, followed by Martin Truex Jr. at 180.284 mph.
“(It was) real fast in (turns) 1 and 2,” Busch said of the money lap. “Maybe I left a little on the table getting into 3. It didn’t feel that fast, and when it doesn’t, that means the car was stuck really well.
“That’s just a tribute to these Furniture Row guys. The confidence they had coming here this weekend stems from a few years ago when they won here with Regan Smith. All of the changes we made in practice—all of them made sense… The car’s been feeling pretty good.”
Kahne was the 10th driver to make a qualifying run, and he held the top spot until Johnson, 26th out, knocked him off the provisional pole. Johnson stayed there until Busch smashed Kahne’s former track record by .099 seconds.
Busch won the first pole of his career at Darlington in 2001—almost by accident, as he tells it today. Busch also was part of the historic finish in 2003 where he raced side by side with Ricky Craven and was second to the stripe by .002 seconds.
“When I first came here as a rookie, you hear all of the Darlington urban legend about how tough this place is, how it was going to chew you up and spit you out, how you have to respect it,” Busch said. “I was like, ‘Yeah, whatever, I’ve got this.’
“There were even jokes about how you were supposed to hold it wide open off turn 2. That’s like a rookie hazing—if you try that, you’re supposed to wreck. I accidentally held it open off 2 and got the pole. I got lucky that day. I beat Jeff Gordon for the pole and, honestly, I never thought it was a pole-sitting lap. It was because of my stupidity that I got it.
“It was very sweet to get that first pole… Today is great, the 10-year anniversary with Ricky Craven and the battle that we had. This gives me a great shot to stay ahead of the field and win by two thousandths of a second this time.”
Note: Carl Edwards and Dale Earnhardt Jr., second and third in the standings, qualified 17th and 16th, respectively. … Busch was 23 years, 29 days old when he won the Darlington pole in 2001, making him the youngest ever. … Johnson will start from a top-10 position for the seventh time in 11 races this season.
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Darlington Raceway – Darlington, SC
Southern 500 Qualifying – May 10, 2013
1 78 Kurt Busch 27.032 181.918
2 48 Jimmie Johnson 27.173 180.974
3 18 Kyle Busch 27.181 180.920
4 5 Kasey Kahne 27.208 180.741
5 56 Martin Truex Jr. 27.277 180.284
6 11 Denny Hamlin 27.296 180.158
7 20 Matt Kenseth 27.303 180.112
8 24 Jeff Gordon 27.304 180.105
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10 29 Kevin Harvick 27.355 179.770
11 31 Jeff Burton 27.368 179.684
12 42 Juan Pablo Montoya 27.376 179.632
13 15 Clint Bowyer 27.381 179.599
14 17 Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 27.394 179.514
15 27 Paul Menard 27.401 179.468
16 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. 27.410 179.409
17 99 Carl Edwards 27.472 179.004
18 43 Aric Almirola 27.500 178.822
19 13 Casey Mears 27.501 178.815
20 14 Tony Stewart 27.511 178.750
21 39 Ryan Newman 27.550 178.497
22 55 Mark Martin 27.578 178.316
23 47 Bobby Labonte 27.593 178.219
24 9 Marcos Ambrose 27.630 177.980
25 1 Jamie McMurray 27.631 177.974
26 2 Brad Keselowski 27.633 177.961
27 51 Regan Smith 27.635 177.948
28 93 Travis Kvapil 27.669 177.730
29 38 David Gilliland 27.676 177.685
30 22 Joey Logano 27.681 177.653
31 34 David Ragan 27.682 177.646
32 33 Landon Cassill 27.736 177.300
33 83 David Reutimann 27.775 177.051
34 35 Josh Wise 27.835 176.670
35 98 Michael McDowell 27.837 176.657
36 95 Scott Speed 27.884 176.359
37 7 Dave Blaney Owner Points
38 19 Mike Bliss Owner Points
39 30 David Stremme Owner Points
40 10 Danica Patrick Owner Points
41 32 Timmy Hill Owner Points
42 36 JJ Yeley Owner Points
43 87 Joe Nemechek Owner Points
Did Not Qualify: None
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