Busch claims pole for California truck race

Friday, Oct. 27, 2000 | 5:01 a.m.

FONTANA, Calif. -- Kurt Busch of Las Vegas set a California Speedway NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series track record of 177.388 mph and captured the pole for Saturday's season-ending Motorola 200.

It was the fourth pole of the season for the 22-year-old Busch, who stands second in NCTS points and has wrapped up the Rookie of the Year award.

Busch toured the 2-mile superspeedway in 40.589 seconds to better Andy Houston's year-old track record of 173.561 mph. Each of the top five qualifiers Friday broke the old track record.

Houston will start on the outside of the front row after posting the second-fastest speed of 176.605. Series champion Greg Biffle (176.151), Dennis Setzer (175.708) and Rick Carelli (174.056) rounded out the top five in qualifying.

Another native Las Vegan, Brendan Gaughan, qualified 16th for Saturday's race with a speed of 172.096 mph.

"This is a truck that almost won the race here last year," Busch said of the No. 99 Exide Batteries Ford. "It was very competitive with Mike Bliss in it. We had great notes ... and it just felt comfortable right off the trailer."

Friday's qualifying session was delayed for more than two hours after an early morning rainstorm hit the track.

Busch attributed his record-breaking qualifying lap to the cool, cloudy weather.

"It's a tribute to the weather," Busch said. "The track was very cool and the air has been a very good quality."

Busch will drive his final truck race Saturday afternoon. The Durango High School graduate has been running a limited NASCAR Winston Cup Series schedule the past month and will drive in the stock-car series full time next year.

"This is a crazy escalator I've been on and I've been trying not to fall off," Busch said. "It's different every race; you've got different competition with the Winston Cup cars, for sure."

Busch holds a 30-point lead over third-place Houston and a 33-point edge over fourth-place Mike Wallace going into the final race of the season. Wallace qualified eighth for Saturday's race.