Bud Pole Winner: Kurt Busch Subway 500 – Martinsville Speedway Oct. 20, 2006 • Kurt Busch won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Bud Pole for the Subway 500, lapping Martinsville Speedway in 19.408 seconds at 97.568 mph. Tony Stewart holds the track-qualifying record of 19.306 seconds/98.083 mph, set Oct. 21, 2005. • This is Busch’s ninth career Bud Pole in 216 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series races. • This is his sixth Bud Pole and 22nd top-10 start in 2006 – both Series highs. • This is Busch’s first Bud Pole and fifth top-10 start in 13 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway. He is the 53rd different Bud Pole winner at Martinsville. • Busch became the sixth different Bud Pole winner in the last six races at Martinsville Speedway. • Jeff Gordon posted the second-quickest qualifying lap of 19.446 seconds/97.377 mph – and will join Busch on the front row for the Subway 500. Gordon has 19 top-10 starts in 28 races at Martinsville. • This is the 15th Bud Pole for Dodge in 2006. Chevrolet has 11 Bud Poles and Ford has five. Qualifying was canceled at Bristol. • Denny Hamlin (third) started fifth at Martinsville for this race in 2005 and 41st this past April, his only races here. • Ryan Newman (fourth) has started in the top-10 in all 10 of his races at Martinsville. • Tony Stewart (fifth) has nine top-10 starts in 16 Martinsville races. • Four of the 10 Chase drivers qualified in the top 10: Gordon, Hamlin, Dale Earnhardt Jr. (seventh) Jimmie Johnson (ninth), Kevin Harvick (12th), Kyle Busch (15th) Matt Kenseth (20th), Mark Martin (25th) and Jeff Burton (27th) are the other Chase drivers. • Seven drivers failed to qualify: Mike Bliss, Hermie Sadler, Chad Chaffin, Morgan Shepherd, Ted Christopher, Derrike Cope and Stanton Barrett. Copyright © 2005 NASCAR. All rights reserved..