Nemechek captures second straight pole

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Joe Nemechek has rediscovered that old qualifying magic.

"Front Row Joe" went four years without winning a pole, but now has two in a row after leading qualifying Friday for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Kansas Speedway.

The eighth pole of his career wasn't easy, though.

"That's as close as you can be to out of control and still have control of the race car," Nemechek said after taking the spot starting spot for Sunday's Banquet 400 with a lap of 180.156 mph.

Nemechek, whose pole last week was his first since October of 2000, ended the drought last week at Talladega. He went on to finish seventh in the race, leaving him 24th in the series standings.

"We've been good all year," said Nemechek, who drives a Chevrolet. "Our finishes haven't shown how good we've been, but we're on a roll now."

It's the first time Nemechek has won two straight poles.

Evernham Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield were the closest to him Friday. Rookie Kahne, also second in Busch Series qualifying earlier in the day, turned a lap of 179.253. Mayfield, fastest of the 10 drivers racing for the Nextel Cup championship, ran 179.188.

Another title contender, Jimmie Johnson, was next at 179.045, followed by Bobby Labonte at 178.891, Greg Biffle at 178.453, and contenders Ryan Newman, the defending race winner, at 178.424, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 178.389.

Earnhardt will go into Sunday's race trailing series leader Kurt Busch by 12 points after NASCAR docked Junior 25 earlier this week for cursing during a live TV interview after his victory last Sunday at Talladega.

Junior was happy with his qualifying effort after struggling on similar 1 1/2-mile ovals earlier this year. And he's still smarting from being knocked out of first place by NASCAR's penalty with seven of 10 races remaining in the Chase for the Nextel Cup.

"What I did was not correct, but I don't think it's fair to take points off the scoreboard," Earnhardt said. "Still, we've got a lot of racing left to do and we'll try to make sure those 25 points don't make any difference when it's over.

"It's hard changing who you are. I've got a lot of friends who tell me all the time that I should clean it up a little bit. But, being 30 years old, it's hard to change in the middle of the road."

Earnhardt's team has appealed the loss of points, but all the driver can do in the meantime is try to regain the lead on the racetrack.

"We'll concentrate real hard and we want to do the best job we can for our fans," Earnhardt said. "I want to apologize to my fans that they had to see me lose 25 points and we have to work harder. I'm sure it didn't make their day any easier when they went to work and their buddies who pull for Jeff Gordon got to enjoy that a little bit."

Busch, the only driver in the title chase to have finished among the top five in each of the first three races, was 22nd in qualifying. Third-place Gordon was a very disappointing 30th.

"The car looks great," said Gordon, who qualified in the top 10 for each of the first three races here. "We need to make it go as fast as it looks."

Among the other contenders, Elliott Sadler was 11th, defending series champion Matt Kenseth 15th, Mark Martin 18th and Tony Stewart 20th.