Kurt Busch takes pole for tonight’s race at Darlington

Associated Press

darlington, S.c.

Kurt Busch ended up on top at Darlington Raceway a week after finishing upside-down at Talladega.

Five days ago, Busch went airborne near the end of the Aaron’s 499 and crash landed on Ryan Newman.

On Friday, Busch sped around Darlington with a fast lap of 181.918 mph for his third career pole here. It surpassed the two-year-old mark of 181.254 mph held by Kasey Kahne.

“Last week, we ended on our lid and this week, we’re here with a track record,” Busch said.

Defending Southern 500 champion Jimmie Johnson will start alongside Busch, followed by Busch’s younger brother Kyle, Kahne and Martin Truex Jr.

It’s been quite a week for the elder Busch.

There was the frightening crash in the last Sprint Cup race, then an Indy Car test session for Michael Andretti at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Thursday. It’s also the 10-year anniversary of the thrilling, side-by-side duel with Ricky Craven in which Busch lost the race by .002 seconds — the closest finish in Sprint Cup since the series went to electronic timing in 1993.

“It’s been surreal,” Busch said. “It’s been an amazing ride.”

And it might not be finished. Busch’s Furniture Row team was the surprise winner at Darlington two years ago, Regan Smith holding on to bring victory to the single-car program and the only NASCAR operation based west of the Mississippi River, in Denver.

“To put it on the pole is a great surprise, but it’s also showing the strength of the team,” Busch said.

Busch joined with Craven earlier in the week to talk about their metal-swapping duel, where both crossed the line in a virtual tie while grinding on each other. Busch said he felt like a winner despite finishing second because he raced hard, clean and gave all he could in chasing victory.

“Maybe I’m on the way to winning by two-thousands of a second,” he said, grinning.

Busch was also stoked about his Indy Car session, where he turned laps in excess of 220 mph. “It was a kid in a candy store moment,” he said.

Busch has had five previous top-10 finishes at Darlington, the last coming when he took third in 2010. He remembered his first pole here, set in 2001 when he became the youngest driver in history to start up front at the Southern 500.

KYLE BUSCH WINS NATIONWIDE

Kyle Busch took the lead from Joey Logano 18 laps from the end to win his fifth Nationwide race this season and second in three years at Darlington Raceway on Friday night.

The victory also capped a dominant showing by the Busch boys at the track “Too Tough To Tame.” Older brother Kurt set a qualifying record to win the pole for the Southern 500 on Saturday night. Kyle was third in Sprint Cup qualifying before dominating the Nationwide race. The younger Busch started from the pole and was the strongest car throughout. He led for 107 of the 147 laps and finished a second in front of Elliott Sadler. Joe Gibbs Racing placed four in the top five, Busch and Elliott’s teammates Brian Vickers third and Matt Kenseth fifth.