Said takes pole spot in Mexico

Two Mexicans placed in the top five for Sunday's Telcel-Motorola 300.
MEXICO CITY (AP) -- Boris Said, a road-course specialist born in New York, won the pole and two Mexican drivers placed in the top five Saturday for the Telcel-Motorola 300, the second race south of the border in NASCAR's Busch Series.
Said averaged 1 minute, 28.295 seconds while reaching a top speed of 102.665 mph. Most of the top finishers from Friday's practice took the track after him but were unable to post faster times.
Second was Denny Hamlin who finished 0.134 seconds behind Said with a speed of 102.509 mph. He is still looking for his first career Busch Series win, but finished fifth in the points last year, his first full season.
Johnny Sauter went around the 2.518-mile road course at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez just once but his time of 1:28.449 was good enough for third place.
Veteran of course
Mexican Adrian Fernandez, an open-wheel racing veteran who knows the Mexico City course better than almost anyone else, took fourth, followed by countryman Jorge Goeters, who stunned the field by taking the pole last year, the first Busch Series race in Mexico.
Saturday's times were slower than the 1:27.696 posted by Goeters, who set a track record with a speed of 103.366 mph in winning the pole.
Qualifying was interrupted several times by crashes, many of which came in curves NASCAR inserted into the long front straightaway to reduce accidents around the first turn. That's the fastest part of a track that was originally built for open-wheel racing.
Stacy Compton shredded the back end of his No. 59 Ford after careening into the grass and spinning into a wall on the seventh turn.
"This was a great race car," Wood lamented. "But they can put some things on the other race car to make it just as good."
Qualifying format
Officials used a group qualifying format associated with road course races, but not in place for several years in the Busch Series.
Jon Wood, who finished first in practice, had some trouble keeping his No. 47 Chevrolet on the course a day later, settling for 17th. The group qualifying meant the fastest cars from Friday started last Saturday, encountering a track that was especially hot and slippery.
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