Casey Mears has been on the pole for 23 percent of his Busch starts in '04.

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Casey Mears was the fastest among 53 qualifiers Thursday to win his third Busch Pole award of the season. Mears' fast lap of 177.936 mph set the track qualifying record, besting Greg Biffle's mark of 177.416 set in 2003.

Mears' three poles -- in just 13 races -- tied Mike Bliss for third-most in the Busch Series this season, behind Martin Truex Jr. (7) and rookie Kyle Busch (5).

"We were a little bit too tight in practice and we made some changes to help that and even though we ran a good lap, I was a little skeptical about being on the pole just a little bit because it was kinda a shot in the dark," Mears said.

"We had a great car and the conditions cooled off there at the end and I think helped us a little bit and it made me hungrier. It was fun, it's cool, anytime you can run a lap like that and set a new track record, that's awesome."

Truex Jr., who clinched the Busch Series championship last week at Darlington, will start second in the Ford 300 on Saturday.

"We're gonna try to win the race, which is what we have always tried to do," he said. "But I think we can take some extra gambles if it comes down to fuel mileage or something like that. I think we can make some gutsy calls that we haven't been able to do all year long."

Rookie Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Busch rounded out the top five.

NASCAR.com

redriderbob

 

1 #1 Casey Mears Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 177.936 30.348 Leader
2 #8 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops 177.009 30.507 -0.159
3 #111 Paul Menard* Chevrolet Menards/Pittsburgh Paints 176.916 30.523 -0.175
4 #38 Kasey Kahne Dodge Great Clips 176.869 30.531 -0.183
5 #5 Kyle Busch* Chevrolet Lowe's 176.696 30.561 -0.213
6 #44 Justin Labonte Dodge U.S. Coast Guard 176.321 30.626 -0.278
7 #41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Discount Tire 176.309 30.628 -0.280
8 #55 David Gilliland Chevrolet Fruit of the Loom 175.953 30.690 -0.342
9 #332 Shane Hmiel Dodge TrimSpa 175.816 30.714 -0.366
10 #22 Jason Keller Ford Miller High Life Light 175.553 30.760 -0.412
11 #2 Ron Hornaday Chevrolet ACDelco 175.268 30.810 -0.462
12 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet ESGR 175.120 30.836 -0.488
13 #66 Jamie McMurray Dodge Duraflame 175.097 30.840 -0.492
14 #12 Tim Fedewa Chevrolet Supercuts 175.023 30.853 -0.505
15 #37 David Green Chevrolet Timber Wolf 175.007 30.856 -0.508
16 #20 Mike Bliss Chevrolet Rockwell Automation 174.706 30.909 -0.561
17 #60 Greg Biffle Ford Charter Communications 174.520 30.942 -0.594
18 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford Alka-Seltzer Plus 174.430 30.958 -0.610
19 #25 Mike McLaughlin Ford U.S. Marines 174.317 30.978 -0.630
20 #27 Johnny Sauter Pontiac Kleenex 174.300 30.981 -0.633
21 #43 Aaron Fike Dodge Ollie's Bargain Outlet/Curb Records 174.120 31.013 -0.665
22 #99 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet Aaron's 174.020 31.031 -0.683
23 #21 Clint Bowyer* Chevrolet Reese's 173.885 31.055 -0.707
24 #47 Robert Pressley Ford Clorox/Wisk 173.768 31.076 -0.728
25 #59 Stacy Compton Ford Kingsford/Bush's Beans 173.589 31.108 -0.760
26 #23 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Stacker 2 173.578 31.110 -0.762
27 #87 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Cellular One 173.099 31.196 -0.848
28 #150 Jennifer Cobb Chevrolet Vassarette 172.662 31.275 -0.927
29 #4 Mike Wallace Ford GEICO/Sportclips 172.656 31.276 -0.928
30 #74 Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet Outdoor Channel 171.958 31.403 -1.055
31 #58 Brent Sherman Dodge Hickory Farms/Serta 171.810 31.430 -1.082
32 #33 Tony Raines Chevrolet Kevin Harvick, Inc. 171.712 31.448 -1.100
33 #35 Wally Dallenbach Ford Mr. Clean AutoDry Carwash 171.712 31.448 -1.100
34 #373 Eric Jones Chevrolet Red Cactus Salsa 171.429 31.500 -1.152
35 #14 David Stremme Chevrolet Navy "Accelerate Your Life" 171.380 31.509 -1.161
36 #195 David Ragan Ford Palm Bch Grading/Sadler Trucking 171.331 31.518 -1.170
37 #31 Todd Bodine Ford Whelen Engineering 171.021 31.575 -1.227
38 #136 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet DCT Motorsports 170.816 31.613 -1.265

Provisional
39 #46 Ashton Lewis Chevrolet Lewis Motorsports - - -
40 #72 Stan Boyd* Chevrolet National Bible Week 164.419 32.843 -2.495
41 #02 Hermie Sadler Chevrolet Zapf Creation 167.499 32.239 -1.891
42 #49 Derrike Cope Ford Advil Liqui-Gels 170.223 31.723 -1.375
43 #24 Steve Grissom Chevrolet Jani-King 169.433 31.871 -1.523

Did not Qualify
44 #0 Kertus Davis Chevrolet RaceGirl/Eagle Jet Int'l 170.358 31.698 -1.350
45 #126 Mark Green Chevrolet lovefifi.com 169.993 31.766 -1.418
46 #104 Eric McClure Chevrolet Morgan-McClure Chevrolet 169.993 31.766 -1.418
47 #271 Kevin Lepage Chevrolet MacDonald Motorsports 169.518 31.855 -1.507
48 #10 Gus Wasson Chevrolet RaceGirl/theacex.com 166.775 32.379 -2.031
49 #39 Tina Gordon Ford Yahoo!/Vassarette/Microtel 164.609 32.805 -2.457
50 #184 Dion Ciccarelli Ford Star Sales 162.788 33.172 -2.824
51 #77 Jimmy Kitchens Ford Moy Racing - - -
52 #88 Jeff Fuller Chevrolet The Decal Wrap/www.cota.org - - -
53 #128 Blake Mallory Ford Matrix Automotive Finishes - - -

* Denotes Rookie

5 of the top-10 qualifiers are Dodges!

redriderbob