DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – Kyle Busch will start at the front of the pack for the Coke Zero 400 on Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway.

Busch qualified with a top speed of 193.732 mph for the 400-mile NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race. His top lap time of 46.458 seconds was good enough for Busch, 28, to earn his first career pole position at Daytona.

“This is certainly a cool day,” Busch said. “It’s cool to sit on the pole here and knowing that I have a fast race car and qualifying well.”

Joining Busch in the front row is his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Matt Kenseth, who qualified at 193.299 mph.

Clint Bowyer (193.158) will start in Row 2 alongside Kasey Kahne (193.154). 

NATIONWIDE: Matt Kenseth pulled away from traffic on the final restart, cruising to a comfortable victory at Daytona Beach, Fla.

The race was on pace to be one of the fastest in Daytona history until a late accident brought out a red-flag stoppage that lasted nearly 10 minutes.

There were only two laps remaining when the race resumed and Kenseth paired up with defending Truck Series champion James Buescher on the restart. The two easily broke away from the pack, leaving everyone else racing for third place, which went to Elliott Sadler, who picked up a $100,000 bonus from series sponsor Nationwide as the highest finishing driver in the “Dash 4 Cash” program.

Kurt Busch finished fourth in a car designed with the beloved City Chevrolet paint scheme from the “Days of the Thunder” movie.

The race was moving on at a rapid pace with just three cautions in the first 90 laps. The Wallace caution set up a restart with seven laps to go, but racing halted when Travis Pastrana seemed to cut down on Cole Whitt, causing Whitt to turn Pastrana and trigger a multi-car accident.

Caught in it was Jason White, who dropped to the grass after climbing out from his crumpled car.

White was tended to by emergency personnel in the grass, then walked to a waiting ambulance on his own.

“Kind of took the breath out of me a little bit. It was a hard hit,” he said. “I’m feeling fine. Just got to get a little rest.” 

BEECH RIDGE: Tyler King, a junior drive from Livermore Falls took the lead halfway through and held on to win the NASCAR Nite Pro Series 50-lap feature at Scarborough.

Dan McKeage of Gorham and Bobby Timmons III of Windham followed King.

The other winners were Matt Dow of Buxton in the Sport Series, Dan Wink of South Berwick in the Wildcat and Dave Cameron of Alfred in the Road Runners.

 

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