BUSCH: Kyle Busch grabs Richmond pole

Rookie Kyle Busch scored his third Busch series pole award of the season with a lap of 129.348 mph. Busch's lap broke the track record by nearly half a second, to earn his first pole at Richmond International Raceway. "The car was really good in ...

Rookie Kyle Busch scored his third Busch series pole award of the season with a lap of 129.348 mph. Busch's lap broke the track record by nearly half a second, to earn his first pole at Richmond International Raceway.

"The car was really good in qualifying trim," said Busch. "We tried a couple of things. We left a little bit out there.

The repaved surface at RIR created lightning quick time-trial laps. The top fourteen drivers all transcended the previous record set by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in 2002.

Busch was glad that the No. 5 Chevy team decided to come to Richmond and test the new surface.

"I think it will just take a little while in order to get a second racing groove built in," Busch said. "You're just going to have to be smooth and try not to do anything stupid in the early going and hang out a little bit and see what positions you can gain. You'll just have to try to get good runs on people and pass them on the inside. Really, it's hard to say how it's going to play out until we get out there."

Jamie McMurray, who inherits the vacated No. 1 ride of Johnny Benson, put the James Finch car on the outside pole. McMurray grabbed two wins in the No. 1 last season.

"I knew after practice that we would have a really good lap," commented McMurray. "For my first race back with these guys, it's a pretty good result."

Bobby Hamilton, Jr. starts third, his best effort since Las Vegas earlier this year.