NASCAR: Kahne Breaks Track Record, Takes Las Vegas Pole

It was no surprise the track record would fall.

Photo courtesy: lvms.com

LAS VEGAS - Qualifying for Las Vegas Motor Speedway's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 is reminiscent of a famous quote by baseball great Yogi Berra: "It was deja-vu all over again."

The old track record (30.874 sec. at 174.904 mph) was set in March 2004 by Kasey Kahne, who was a NASCAR Nextel Cup Series rookie at the time.

It was no surprise the track record would fall.

After the banking in the superspeedway's turns was increased from 12 degrees to 20, the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series cars were running at least 10 mph faster than Kahne's record during NASCAR Preseason Thunder Las Vegas testing in January.

If you're going to see your track record broken, you might as well watch yourself doing it.

Kahne's pole-winning run on Friday was 9.952 mph faster than his three-year-old record.

After 53 cars made an effort to qualify, no one else was able to turn in a lap quicker than Kahne's and he earned his second LVMS Bud Pole Award and set his second track record.

"We started practice today and scuffed some tires," said the driver of the No. 9 Dodge Dealers UAW Dodge.

"The tires were real hard and we were trying to get grip. We made two race runs and kinda figured out where we needed to be. Then we made two race runs and thought we had a good car when practice was over. We knew there'd be more grip when the sun went down. We made a pretty good lap. There's some bumps in Turns 1 and 2. I was able to get around them and cut down the track after I got around them. It worked out good. I am excited - happy that I'm not giving up the track record here yet. We've had it since '04 and we'll try to keep it for a while."

David Stremme qualified second at 29.317 sec. (184.193 mph).

"My confidence is pretty good," said Stremme. "Everybody on the team did a great job. The track has picked up so much and you really don't know how to drive it. You don't want to overdrive it. Maybe it was better I was a little cautious."

Elliott Sadler, teammate to pole-winner Kahne, will start third.

Juan Pablo Montoya was fastest among the Raybestos rookie contenders and qualified fourth.

Montoya won the 2000 Indianapolis 500 and scored seven Formula 1 victories but is considered a rookie in the NASCAR ranks.

"I think it was good," said Montoya, who won his first NASCAR race only one week ago (in Mexico City). "I think all the Ganassi cars were really fast today. I think the track conditions changed a bit and I think David (Stremme) put a really good lap in. We had to really push it. It was good through (Turns) 1 and 2, but in 3 and 4 -- with the sun -- it was a little too slick. My Busch car was a handful. The Cup car is good."

Kenny Wallace was the last of 53 drivers to attempt to qualify.

Wallace, without sufficient owner's points to guarantee a starting berth, was a member of the "go-or-go-home" contingent.

He placed his car solidly in the field (15th) and bumped Raybestos rookie-of-the-year contender Aric Almirola from the UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 starting grid.

Hometown heroes Kurt and Kyle Busch will start 10th and 12th, respectively.

QUALIFYING NOTES:

Every driver (excluding the three who used owner's points to gain entry into the race and the fourth who opted for the past-champion's provisional) qualified faster than Kahne's old track record.

Bobby Labonte was one of the first cars to attempt to qualify Friday afternoon.

Labonte's right-front tire went flat as he entered Turn 2 and crashed. He was not injured, but his Cheerios Dodge suffered considerable right-side damage.

He will start 42nd, by virtue of 2006 owner's points.

The retaining car also claimed David Gilliland's car on his second lap. His first lap was fast enough to get him into the show (21st).

Not so lucky was Ken Schrader, whose new Ore-Ida Ford needed to qualify on his lap time. He spun and crashed in Turn 2, bringing his weekend to a premature end.

Paul Menard entertained the Qualifying Day crowd when he spun in Turn 4 on his second lap.

Menard's bright yellow Chevrolet slid through the grass and all four tires left the ground momentarily as he sailed over Turns 3 and 4 of the infield Legends Cars oval.

Failed to qualify: Jeremy Mayfield, Aric Allmendinger, Mike Bliss, John Andretti, Brian Vickers, David Reutimann, Brandon Whitt, Kevin Lepage, Michael Waltrip (spun) and Ken Schrader (crashed).

Adding comments to these stories has been disabled. View the current sports stories Salem-News Sports