Jarrett wins pole for UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400

Friday, March 2, 2001 | 5:10 a.m.

Nobody is more surprised than Dale Jarrett that the former NASCAR Winston Cup champion will start Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 from the pole.

Jarrett, driving the No. 88 UPS Ford, took advantage of a mid-session cloud cover and turned a lap at 172.106 mph to capture his second pole in four attempts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It was the 11th pole of his career.

"When we were here a couple weeks ago testing, we did no qualifying-type runs at all," Jarrett said. "We worked strictly on race setups and so I felt really good coming here about our race setup but I had no idea, really, what we would do for qualifying.

"It was just a good lap and then we were fortunate to go out at a time when we had a lot of cloud cover, so I think that hurt some of the guys toward the end having a chance of beating us."

Johnny Benson was second fastest in the Valvoline Pontiac with a lap of 171.728 and will start on the front row with Jarrett. Jerry Nadeau was third at 171.636 in a Chevy and Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip was fourth at 171.603, also in a Chevy.

"Obviously, we tried for the pole and didn't quite get it," Benson said. "We're second quick but we're real happy with that. We're not going to complain."

Kurt Busch, a native of Las Vegas, was the fastest rookie qualifier. He will start ninth in Sunday's 267-lap race after a qualifying run of 171.130.

"It's great to be back in familiar surroundings," Busch said. "It's a great racetrack. I guess it fits a rookie like me who might be a little skittish (because) this track is a little more forgiving."

Another native Las Vegan, Brendan Gaughan, failed to qualify for Sunday's race.

Jeff Burton, who has won the past two Winston Cup races at LVMS, qualified 28th.

Matt Kenseth, a second-year Winston Cup driver, shattered the Busch Series track record in capturing the pole for Saturday's Sam's Town 300. Kenseth's lap of 169.385 mph was more than 3 mph faster than Hank Parker Jr.'s year-old track record of 166.328.

"We made a couple of adjustments to the car," Kenseth said. "I didn't know we'd get the pole but I thought we'd be in the top five."

Todd Bodine, another Winston Cup driver, qualified second at 168.487, Greg Biffle was third at 168.445 and Bobby Hamilton Jr. was fourth at 168.135.

Nineteen of the 43 Busch drivers who qualified broke the track record.