Two poles in a row for 'Front Row Joe'

The eighth pole of his career wasn't easy, though.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) -- Joe Nemechek has rediscovered that old qualifying magic.
"Front Row Joe" went four years without winning a pole, but now has two in a row after leading qualifying Friday for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Kansas Speedway.
The eighth pole of his career wasn't easy, though.
"That's as close as you can be to out of control and still have control of the race car," Nemechek said after taking the spot starting spot for Sunday's Banquet 400 with a lap of 180.156 mph.
Back on top
Nemechek, whose pole last week was his first since October of 2000, ended the drought last week at Talladega. He went on to finish seventh in the race, leaving him 24th in the series standings.
"We've been good all year," said Nemechek, who drives a Chevrolet. "Our finishes haven't shown how good we've been, but we're on a roll now."
It's the first time Nemechek has won two straight poles.
Evernham Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield were the closest to him Friday. Rookie Kahne, also second in Busch Series qualifying earlier in the day, turned a lap of 179.253. Mayfield, fastest of the 10 drivers racing for the Nextel Cup championship, ran 179.188.
Another title contender, Jimmie Johnson, was next at 179.045, followed by Bobby Labonte at 178.891, Greg Biffle at 178.453, and contenders Ryan Newman, the defending race winner, at 178.424, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 178.389.
Earnhardt will go into Sunday's race trailing series leader Kurt Busch by 12 points after NASCAR docked Junior 25 earlier this week for cursing during a live TV interview after his victory last Sunday at Talladega.
Satisfaction
Junior was pretty happy with his qualifying effort after struggling on similar 11/2-mile ovals earlier this year. And he's still smarting from being knocked out of first place by NASCAR's penalty with seven of 10 races remaining in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.
"What I did was not correct, but I don't think it's fair to take points off the scoreboard," Earnhardt said. "Still, we've got a lot of racing left to do and we'll try to make sure those 25 points don't make any difference when it's over."
Busch, the only driver in the title chase to have finished among the top five in each of the first three races, was 22nd in qualifying. Third-place Jeff Gordon was a very disappointing 30th. Among the other contenders, Elliott Sadler was 11th, defending series champion Matt Kenseth 15th, Mark Martin 18th and Tony Stewart 20th.
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