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Friday, March 3, 2000 | 11:13 a.m.

Hank Parker Jr. crashed his primary race car during practice for the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway and was unable to join other Busch Series drivers for a two-day test session last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

As it turned out, Parker didn't need the practice.

Parker, a 25-year-old second-year Busch Series driver, captured the pole for Saturday's Sam's Town 300 in the Rick Rathbun's Team Marines Racing Chevrolet with a track-record lap of 32.466 seconds (166.328 mph) during first-round qualifying Thursday at LVMS.

Parker's lap, which came late in the session, knocked provisional pole-sitter Mark Martin to the outside of the front row. Martin, the Busch Series' all-time leader in wins with 41, qualified second with a time of 32.519 (166.057 mph) in the Winn-Dixie Ford.

"This is awesome," Parker said of his first career Busch Series pole. "It's a big honor (to beat out Martin for the pole); he's someone I grew up watching race and he's one of my heroes.

"You just think he's an unbeatable person, so knowing that you beat him in qualifying is a pretty awesome feeling. I'm just trying to earn some respect from these guys."

Kevin Grubb was the third-fastest qualifier Thursday, turning a lap of 32.585 (165.720 mph) in a Chevrolet and will start on the inside of the second row Saturday. The top three qualifiers topped Martin's previous mark of 165.715 mph set last year.

Jeff Green, who flipped his car in the season-opening race at Daytona, was fourth fastest at 32.631 (165.487) in the NesQuik Chevrolet.

Parker, the son of renowned professional fisherman Hank Parker, said he was unsure how well he could qualify at Las Vegas without the benefit of the preseason test.

"The biggest thing was we ran well when we were here last year and we had some small things that we have learned on these flat race tracks about how to make our cars go fast," said Parker, who qualified fourth for last year's Sam's Town 300.

"I knew I was going to qualify good, but I didn't know it was going to be this good."

Martin, who won last weekend's Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway and is the defending champion of the Sam's Town 300, said he likes his chances Saturday.

"I feel pretty good about this race," said Martin, who also won the inaugural Winston Cup race at LVMS in 1998. "This is my favorite car and one of my favorite tracks, so I think everything's going to go very well."

Only the top 25 cars on Thursday qualified for Saturday's race. Positions 26 through 36 will be filled from today's second-round qualifying and the final seven spots will be based on car owner points from 1999.

Some of the notable drivers who did not qualify on Thursday included Winston Cup regulars Jeff Gordon, Matt Kenseth, Michael Waltrip, Kenny Irwin, Kenny Wallace, Terry Labonte and Mike Skinner.

Dave Steele spun out coming out of turn four during his qualifying run and hit the outside wall. Steele was uninjured and will attempt to qualify today.