Kurt Busch on pole for season finale

NASCAR Nextel Cup series points leader Kurt Busch made his stand going into the season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Busch, who leads the standings by just 18 points, will start the No. 97 Roush Ford from the pole for the Ford 400.

"It's a whole new face and a whole new outlook on this championship," said Busch. "We've been in a great position all year."

Busch went out dead last to earn his second consecutive pole this season.

"We're prepared to win Sunday," continued Busch. "But we are prepared to lose as well. But it would be a much sweeter situation to bring hardware home on Monday morning."

Greg Biffle qualified second and Ryan Newman third.

"We would have liked to had the pole," said Newman. "We just didn't have enough. It's disappointing but it's still a great starting spot for us."

Kasey Kahne looked poised to grab the pole all session, going second and remaining at the top until Biffle went out 51st.

"That was the best we had been all day," said Kahne. "We were pretty loose. It was better than it was in practice this morning."

Jeff Gordon and Bobby Labonte complete the top five.

"This is one race for the championship, and we'll have a 'go for broke' attitude," said Gordon. "We have nothing to lose. We'll give it everything we've got and hope to come out on top. We have to win."

Qualifying was slowed once due to the No. 41 Dodge of Casey Mears smacking the wall in turn four. Mears, the Busch pole sitter, had to resort to his backup car as the damage on his ride was too severe to repair.

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