KB PUTS MILLER LITE DODGE ON OUTSIDE POLE AT POCONO
-Miller Lite Team Misses Second Pole Of 2006 By Only 0.048 Seconds-

LONG POND, Pa. (June 9, 2006) - Miller Lite Dodge driver Kurt Busch was second-fastest in practice here at Pocono Raceway leading up to the afternoon's qualifying round.  When he clocked in with a lap some sixth-tenths of a second faster than his practice lap (169.485 mph/53.102 seconds), his attention turned to watch Brian Vickers, who had turned the fastest practice lap, make his run.

            When Vickers clocked in with a lap two-tenths slower (168.792 mph/53.320 seconds), Busch, crew chief Roy McCauley and members of the Miller Lite Team breathed a sigh of relief and thought their biggest threat to take the pole away was history.

            "Don't count that kid out," McCauley said, as he looked at the qualifying order sheet and pointed to the No. 11 car of rookie Denny Hamlin.

            McCauley's words would prove visionary as Hamlin, who never saw this tricky 2.5-mile triangular layout before this morning and had only practiced running the track on a video game, knocked Busch off the top spot with a lap of 169.638 mph (53.054 seconds).

            "Where did that come from?" Busch asked about Hamlin, who was only 24th fastest in practice.  "I have to ask him myself."  Busch then waited on pit road for Hamlin to pull his car in after the lap and was the first man there to offer the rookie driver his congratulations and a friendly handshake.

            "Now, we have two practice sessions here in the morning to get the car dialed in for Sunday's race," Busch offered.  "It's definitely good we're not in an impound situation like we were last year at this race. You can run a qualifying setup and have a whole different feel and you jump into a race setup and it's a whole different animal because of how run turn one is and yet how fast the new Turn 2 is. It's pretty smooth over there, but I think the race is still won off turn three. That's where we've got to get our car working a little better. If we can get the Miller Lite Dodge to really hug the bottom of the racetrack, that's where I think the key will be."

            Kasey Kahne earned the third starting spot here today with his lap of 169.011 mph (53.251 seconds), while Vickers will start fourth and Jeff Burton fifth.  Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Busch and Jimmie Johnson rounded out the top 10 qualifiers.

Saturday's action here at Pocono Raceway includes practice sessions at 9:30 a.m. and 11:05 a.m.  Sunday's Pocono 500 (500 miles/200 laps) has a 2:10 p.m. EDT starting time and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.

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