Stewart takes pole for first time at Daytona

The driver of the No. 20 car was involved in an incident with a fan on Wednesday.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Tony Stewart seems to run better when he's surrounded by a little controversy.

Stewart won the pole for the Pepsi 400 on Friday, two days after an altercation with a fan at Daytona International Speedway.

He downplayed the incident after qualifying.

"It's a pretty petty deal," Stewart said. "It's not something that we're even worried about. We've discarded it already."

Stewart covered the 2 1/2-mile superspeedway at 185.582 mph, slightly faster than Scott Riggs and Jimmie Johnson. Boris Said and Joe Nemechek, both teammates with Riggs, rounded out a top-five sweep for Chevrolet.

Elliott Sadler was sixth-fastest in a Ford, followed by the Chevrolets of Kevin Harvick and Jason Leffler and Rusty Wallace's Dodge. Kerry Earnhardt's fast lap gave Chevy eight of the top 10 spots in the field of 43.

Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon qualified 15th. Nextel Cup points leader Greg Biffle was 18th. Dale Earnhardt Jr. continued his season-long slump and wound up 39th.

Stewart, meanwhile, won his first pole of the season and his first at Daytona. It came after a run-in at the track Wednesday night.

NASCAR's bad boy allegedly yelled and cursed at a fan after she slowed him up entering a tunnel to the speedway. Pamela Williams, of Hobe Sound, Fla., said Stewart was flashing his headlights behind her as they entered the track infield.

"I stuck my hand out and made a motion to slow down and this guy raced around me and slammed on his brakes," Williams told The Daytona Beach News-Journal. "He jumps out and started walking toward me -- angry and irritated -- like road rage."

Several track workers corroborated Williams' story. Stewart, meanwhile, offered conflicting details.

He said Williams gestured for him to pass and then made a profane gesture as he did. He said he got out of the car just to ask Williams what her problem was.

Stewart later told a security guard he didn't want to pursue the issue, and Williams opted not to call police.

Stewart, who was fined for punching a photographer in 2002 and won a race the following week in the midst of the criticism, declined to retell his version of the story after qualifying.

But he said he was surprised the incident drew so much attention.

"It's pretty flattering to know that anything we do makes that big of news," he said.

Biffle on top

Greg Biffle has the Nextel Cup points lead for the first time in his career. He plans to keep it, too.

Biffle, who won championships in the Craftsman Truck series in 2000 and the Busch series in 2002, heads into the Pepsi 400 today 22 points ahead of Jimmie Johnson. Biffle has a series-leading five victories, has led more laps than anyone and has more confidence than ever with his newfound success in NASCAR's premier series.

"I'm not as concerned about the points anymore," he said. "All I wanted to do was lead the points. I don't care if I lead them for a week. If something were to happen Saturday night, it wouldn't be that big of a deal because I know it would be a matter of time and we'll have it back again."

Biffle took over the top spot after last week's race in Sonoma, Calif., where he finished 14th while Johnson was 36th after having early gear problems.

Evernham expansion

Evernham Motorsports made it official Friday: the team will field a third car for the 2006 Nextel Cup season.

Evernham will run the No. 10 car along with the No. 9 driven by Kasey Kahne and the No. 19 of Jeremy Mayfield. The team also will field a fourth car, the No. 91, for a handful of races with former NASCAR champion Bill Elliott behind the wheel.

But team owner Ray Evernham hasn't settled on a driver for the latest addition.

"Whether the guy's young or old or a girl, who knows?" Evernham said. "The main thing the person has to be is fast."

He did eliminate 24-year-old developmental driver Erin Crocker from the list. She is scheduled to make her Busch series debut in September.

"I don't think she'll be ready next year," Evernham said.