Terry Cook takes NCTS Bud Pole at Milwaukee

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. -- Terry Cook continued his upward movement in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Friday by capturing the Bud Pole Award for the GNC Live Well 200 at the Milwaukee Mile.

Cook, driver of the No. 29 Power Stroke Diesel Ford, laid down a lap 119.784 mph (30.54 sec) around the famed one-mile oval. This is Cook's third career pole and comes on the heels of his recent win in St. Louis earlier this year.

Qualifying second was Wisconsin native and defending race winner Ted Musgrave in the No. 1 MOPAR Dodge. His lap of 119.558 mph puts him in a coveted starting position on a track where position can mean everything.

Starting third will be Coy Gibbs in the No. 20 MBNA Chevrolet for his career-best start.

For Cook, the lap was right about where he thought it would be after posting the fastest, and same exact, time during the second practice session.

"I am very pleased, it's probably a little faster than I thought it would be sitting from the driver's seat," Cook said. "We did two stickers (qualifying runs) during practice and both times, the very first lap was the same.

"Surprise, surprise -- in qualifying it was the same thing.

"This is pretty special to me because the Mile is the place I made my very first NCTS start back in 1996."

As excited as Cook is about the pole, going faster than the home town favorite of Musgrave has him a little worried on race day.

"My No. 1 main concern right now is not how I'm going to race," Cook said, smiling. "But, how I'm going to act when all those fans find out I knocked a 'Cheesehead' in their home state here off the pole.

"I'm going to get heckled and booed off during the driver introductions."

At this point, Musgrave chimed in during the post-qualifying press conference to let him know that wouldn't be the case at all.

"You aren't going to get heckled and booed," Musgrave said dryly. "You're just not going to make it out of here alive."

Musgrave is keeping his own hopes alive of being the first driver to repeat as race winner. He posted the second-fastest time during practice, but couldn't muster up any more speed to knock Cook off the top spot.

Upon exiting the truck after his qualifying laps, Musgrave raised his hands to the fans across the track as they were cheering loudly for him.

"That lap was just a tick slower then we had in practice," Musgrave said. "The race track may have gotten a little more greasy than earlier. We're just trying to overcome the downforce that some of these other Trucks have.

"As the day goes on Saturday, hopefully we can either outlast them or out smart them and pick up a win. Winning here last year was so special, the best thing was that the fans had a good show."

Gibbs will be running his third race here and feels it's about time he finally figured the track out.

"That was the fastest we've gone all day," Gibbs said. "We're still a little behind the leaders, but hopefully we can find something in Happy Hour to help us out.

"I've never really gotten around here that well, but Doug (Hewitt, crew chief) has done a great job working on the flat-track program. It's been a struggle for me."

Rounding out the top-10 starters will be Travis Kvapil, Mike Bliss, Rick Crawford, Jason Leffler, Robert Pressley, point-leader David Starr and Brendan Gaughan.

Provisionals were used by Ryan Hemphill, Jason Thom, Dana White and David Hall. Failing to make the race were Loni Richardson and Aaron Daniels.