Harvick's hot lap results in first Bud Pole

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Kevin Harvick busted a surprising fast lap Friday morning in Bud Pole Qualifying for Saturday night's Pepsi 400 at Daytona International Speedway and held on for his first career top starting spot.

	Kevin Harvick

The sometimes volatile but always straight-up 2001 NASCAR Busch Series champion made a difference on a day in which former Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip said "an intoxicated orangutan" could successfully qualify a car.

Harvick went out 31st of 45 cars that attempted and knocked Daytona whirlwind Jeff Gordon off the pole with a lap in 48.638 seconds, an average speed of 185.041 mph in the No. 29 Goodwrench Chevrolet. Saturday's race will be his 51st Winston Cup start.

Harvick -- the third first time pole winner in 2002 -- did not even make a lap Thursday in the first 40-minute practice -- then was only 14th best in the one-hour night practice.

Friday, he picked up more than half a second then held his breath while Tony Stewart, Ricky Rudd and Rusty Wallace all made runs at him -- and all fell disappointingly short.

"We ran a 48.40 when we came down for the (Daytona) 500 and it's obviously a lot hotter so we didn't know where we were gonna be," Harvick said. "I didn't do anything but ride around in it (but) you never know with these RCR guys how much is sitting in the tank and how much is left. It's a real tribute to them."

Geoffrey Bodine

The public and many quarters of the media have questioned Harvick over a sub-par first 16 races, which include one top-five, two top-10s and four DNFs. Owner Richard Childress went so far as to swap crews with teammate Robby Gordon's team to try to remedy the situation three races ago.

"It's been a tough first half of the year and I think the last couple weeks the finishes haven't shown how much better things are and how good everything is going," Harvick said. "The GM Goodwrench team is here and we're gonna win races this year. There's no reason to talk about it -- we'll just show it."

Harvick, who started on the outside of the front row for his second Cup race at Daytona, February's Daytona 500, confirmed he and Childress were close to signing a long-term contract extension.

"It just feels good to be talking to you guys and I want to thank all the fans for sticking behind us and sticking up for this GM Goodwrench car," he said. "We're here, and they'll know it."

Evergreen Geoffrey Bodine, who has made only three starts in 2002 but who finished third in the season opening Daytona 500, bumped Jeff Gordon back to third with his lap in 48.841/184.373 in the No. 09 Miccosukee Resort Ford.

"This is all team -- the crew at Phoenix Racing -- and they've obviously worked hard since February, when we didn't qualify good even though we finished third," Bodine said. "This is a big improvement for this team and they've done all the work. I wish I could say it was the driver, but we just steer and hold the gas down -- all the work is done before we get here."

Bodine's stunning effort recalled memories of his last pole -- which he said he couldn't remember -- the fastest non-restrictor plate pole in Winston Cup history in November 1997 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, 197.478 mph.

Jeff Gordon's No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet (184.271), Robby Gordon in the No. 31 Cingular Chevrolet (184.268) and Dale Jarrett in the No. 88 UPS Ford (184.245) rounded out the top five starters.

"What an awesome effort put out by everyone in the engine shop and the body guys at Hendrick Motorsports," said Gordon, whose career winless streak stands at 24 races. "Heck yes I want to win a race. We've got a million dollars on the line for us and a fan in the Winston No Bull 5 and there's a lot of effort put into this."

Johnny Benson in a Pontiac, 2001 Pepsi 400 runner-up Waltrip -- who was either first or second quickest in the two Thursday practices, Steve Park and defending Pepsi 400 winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. in Chevrolets and Casey Atwood in a Dodge qualified sixth-10th.

"That's as hot as it's been since we've been here and we don't know how much that affected it," Waltrip said. "What you bring is what you've got, here. An intoxicated orangutan could've done what I did."

Daytona 500 pole winner and Raybestos Rookie of the Year leader Jimmie Johnson, who was in the top-five in both Thursday practices, was victimized Friday by a stringent NASCAR inspection and a loose piece of tape and qualified 16th in the No. 48 Lowe's Chevrolet.

"We slowed down quite a bit from where we practiced," Johnson said. "Rolling through the (inspection) room cost us a bit and we had a piece of tape on the nose that opened up and let a lot of air in.

"We felt like we could have run about what Jeff (Gordon, teammate and car owner) did."

Shawna Robinson, who made a historic start in the Daytona 500 and scored her career best finish, 24th, in that race, qualified 27th in the No. 49 dakotaimaging/Life O2 Dodge after sitting out since California at the end of April while her BAM Racing team reorganized.

Wallace, who was bumped out of the field by the last qualifier, his brother Mike Wallace; Matt Kenseth; Ryan Newman; Jeff Green; 2002 Daytona 500 winner Ward Burton; Jeremy Mayfield; and Joe Nemechek took provisional starting positions to line up 37th-43rd.

Steve Grissom and Ed Berrier, driving for Junie Donlavey, failed to make the field.