Mark cranked up his farewell tour
on the Busch Grand National Series by winning the pole for today's
Alltell 200 at North Carolina Speedway, and it was a record!
Who else but Mark would break North Carolina Speedway's
NASCAR Busch Series Grand National Division Bud Pole Qualifying record? Who
else, indeed. Mark clicked off a lap at 154.383 mph, eclipsing
the mark David Green had held since October 1994.
It was the 24th Bud Pole of Mark's NASCAR Busch
Series career, moving him into a tie with Sam Ard for second-most
in the division's history. Mark has five series Bud Poles at
Rockingham, two more than any other driver. He beat the Green
brothers Jeff and David to get the top starting spot. "I thought
David ran a good lap, then Mark went out and there and blew
us both off," said Jeff Green, who qualified third behind
Mark and his brother. "I hope that's not what happens today."
David couldn't have been too disappointed at seeing his record
topped, because he'll start second with a lap of 153.169 mph. His
younger brother, Jeff, will start third. Jeff Burton and Casey
Atwood qualified fourth and fifth, while Blaise Alexander, Chad
Chaffin, Kenny Wallace, Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Mark Green
rounded out the top 10.
Green said his wild, upside-down wreck in last week's NAPA
300 in Daytona did not effect his preparations for Rockingham.
"The only thing I hurt was my feelings," said Green. "I let
my guys down real bad at Daytona, and I want to bounce back
and win this race for them." Mark, who plans to focus on
Winston Cup in the future, has a record 10 wins in Busch races
at the Rock. He finished second in the spring race last year
and won in October.
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through on a deal to work together in the draft at Daytona, met
with Jarrett on Friday. Neither driver had much public comment
afterwards. "There's nothing to talk about," Mark said. "There's
nothing that could be said that would change anything". Jarrett
said the subject of the conversation was "between me and Mark."
He said he approached Mark because he considered Mark a friend.
"It wasn't abount racing or anything," he said. "It was about
friendship."
