Busch Brothers Earn Front Row At Home Track In Las Vegas

 

It was brotherly love, briefly, at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Kyle Busch and Kurt Busch became the first brothers since 2000 to sweep the front row in qualifying for a NASCAR race, but Kyle Busch's blown motor will prevent the Las Vegas drivers from starting next to each other at their home track.

Kyle Busch blew a motor in his Toyota during Friday's practice session, changed the engine, then ran a pole-winning lap of 185.995 mph to knock his big brother off the pole. Kurt Busch ran a lap at 185.707 mph.

But under NASCAR rules, Kyle Busch will have to drop to the back of the field at the start of Sunday's race. Third-place qualifier Jimmie Johnson will slide onto the front row next to Kurt Busch during the warm-up laps.

Kyle Busch wasn't worried about having to drive to the front.

"Unfortunately for myself, I won't be in the cool photo next to my brother at the drop of the green flag," said Kyle Busch, who celebrated the pole-winning run by crashing a Victory Lane wedding ceremony between race fans and stepping in as the best man.

The 1-2 qualifying effort marked the first time brothers have swept the front row since Rusty and Kenny Wallace at Martinsville in 2000. Bobby and Terry Labonte also took the top two starts at the 1998 Daytona 500.

The motor change spoiled what would have undoubtedly been an intense fight to lead the first lap, so Kurt Busch wasn't bothered that Kyle will fall to the back of the field.

"It would have been great to go after it and see who would leave the first lap, but you can't get caught up in all that," Kurt Busch said.

David Reutimann and Marcos Ambrose qualified fourth and fifth, but also had to change their motors after their laps and will drop to the back of the field. Brian Vickers, who won the pole last week at California but had to forfeit it because of an engine change, and his teammate Scott Speed also switched motors Friday.

In all, five Toyota teams switched motors Friday.

"I don't have any idea," Busch said of the rash of motor problems. Kyle Busch's motor is built by Joe Gibbs Racing, but the others all came from Toyota's factory in Costa Mesa, Calif.

Ryan Newman qualified sixth and was followed by Kasey Kahne, Mark Martin, Kevin Harvick and Tony Stewart.

A total of 51 drivers entered the race, meaning 16 drivers were vying for the eight available spots in the field. Among those to make the race AJ Allmendinger— a year after he missed the event for Red Bull Racing and was temporarily pulled from his ride the next week, Brad Keselowski and Regan Smith, last year's rookie of the year.

Missing the field was Jeremy Mayfield and Scott Riggs, who both raced their way into the Daytona 500 three weeks ago, as well as Travis Kvapil, Dave Blaney, Sterling Marlin and Tony Raines.

2009 Shelby 427 Starting Lineup

Start Pos	Car#	Driver	Car	Qual Speed	Qual Time
1	18	Kyle Busch	Toyota	185.995	29.033
2	2	Kurt Busch	Dodge	185.707	29.078
3	48	Jimmie Johnson	Chevrolet	185.688	29.081
4	00	David Reutimann	Toyota	185.624	29.091
5	47	Marcos Ambrose	Toyota	185.459	29.117
6	39	Ryan Newman	Chevrolet	185.395	29.127
7	9	Kasey Kahne	Dodge	185.382	29.129
8	5	Mark Martin	Chevrolet	185.312	29.140
9	29	Kevin Harvick	Chevrolet	185.280	29.145
10	14	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet	185.217	29.155
11	12	David Stremme	Dodge	185.077	29.177
12	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Dodge	184.989	29.191
13	25	Brad Keselowski	Chevrolet	184.786	29.223
14	31	Jeff Burton	Chevrolet	184.565	29.258
15	55	Michael Waltrip	Toyota	184.540	29.262
16	99	Carl Edwards	Ford	184.496	29.269
17	96	Bobby Labonte	Ford	184.433	29.279
18	78	Regan Smith	Chevrolet	184.433	29.279
19	44	A J Allmendinger	Dodge	184.395	29.285
20	20	Joey Logano	Toyota	184.388	29.286
21	83	Brian Vickers	Toyota	184.168	29.321
22	87	Joe Nemechek	Toyota	184.162	29.322
23	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Chevrolet	184.118	29.329
24	16	Greg Biffle	Ford	184.005	29.347
25	1	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevy	183.999	29.348
26	13	Max Papis	Toyota	183.974	29.352
27	8	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet	183.936	29.358
28	24	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet	183.799	29.380
29	34	John Andretti	Dodge	183.786	29.382
30	71	David Gilliland	Chevrolet	183.748	29.388
31	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	Chevrolet	183.742	29.389
32	7	Robby Gordon	Toyota	183.486	29.430
33	19	Elliott Sadler	Dodge	183.461	29.434
34	11	Denny Hamlin	Toyota	183.293	29.461
35	6	David Ragan	Ford	183.144	29.485
36	98	Paul Menard	Ford	182.921	29.521
37	33	Clint Bowyer	Chevrolet	182.772	29.545
38	26	Jamie McMurray	Ford	182.574	29.577
39	43	Reed Sorenson	Dodge	182.469	29.594
40	17	Matt Kenseth	Ford	182.143	29.647
41	07	Casey Mears	Chevrolet	181.928	29.682
42	82	Scott Speed	Toyota	181.257	29.792
43	64	Todd Bodine	Toyota	183.231	29.471
DNQ	28	Travis Kvapil	Ford	183.181	29.479
DNQ	66	Dave Blaney	Toyota	182.673	29.561
DNQ	73	Mike Garvey	Dodge	182.457	29.596
DNQ	41	Jeremy Mayfield	Toyota	182.389	29.607
DNQ	09	Sterling Marlin	Dodge	181.543	29.745
DNQ	36	Scott Riggs	Toyota	180.820	29.864
DNQ	37	Tony Raines	Dodge	180.331	29.945
DNQ	51	Dexter Bean	Dodge	174.154	31.007