Kyle Busch Snags Second Career Phoenix Pole

[media-credit name=”Credit: Tom Pennington/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”223″][/media-credit]Kyle Busch captured the pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series AdvoCare 500 at Phoenix International Raceway with a lap of 138.766 mph.  Busch is trying to gain some momentum carrying on to the 2013 season after missing the Chase for the third time in his career.

“We’ll take it and it will be a good starting spot for us. Obviously, getting first pit selection and all that’s good for us. The M&M’s Camry was awesome all day today. Can’t wait for tomorrow. Hopefully, we can get this thing dolled up for race trim and have a good race car come Sunday.” Busch said.

Martin Truex Jr. qualified second and is in the Chase, but is too far back in the lineup to make a charge for the championship as the duo of Jimmie Johnson and Brad Keselowski continue their dominance.

The weather played a huge factor in the qualifying today. A cold front has hit Arizona this past weekend and it ha been raining off and on all day. Areas like Prescott and Flagstaff even saw snow. The cloud coverage disrupted the handling on Jimmie Johnson’s car during his qualifying lap, and he wound up in 24th, his worst qualifying effort since Bristol. Brad Keselowski qualified his #2 Miller Lite Dodge in the 14th position. He also had some trouble on his qualifying lap, but Mother Nature was a little more lenient to Keselowski.

If Keselowski wants to gain any momentum, he needs to do it on Sunday. Johnson is already ten spots behind Brad when the race begins, and he can’t hesitate when Johnson is a 4-time winner at this track.

Spring winner Denny Hamlin will start from the third position. Kasey Kahne (2011 winner of this event), Aric Almirola, Kurt Busch, Paul Menard, Regan Smith, Mark Martin, and Tony Stewart will round out the Top 10 for Sunday’s race.

Notables: Jeff Gordon (11th), Ryan Newman (12th), Carl Edwards (13th), Joey Logano (15th), Clint Bowyer (16th), Kevin Harvick (19th), Greg Biffle (20th), Matt Kenseth (22nd), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (23rd), Danica Patrick (37th).

For you Kyle Busch fans, I asked him in the media center the following question: How important is it for you and your team to get a win before the season is out to carry momentum for 2013?

“I think getting a win would be nice. We don’t necessarily need a win, but we need to finish well these final few races. I think we actually have performed well enough these past couple weeks. We were up there battling Brad and Jimmie at Texas all night long, but we just didn’t have the car in the end and of course we’ve been bitten by fuel in the past, but to win would definitely be a big boost to this team.”