Musgrave takes Bud Pole for crucial PIR race

Ted Musgrave took the latest step in his bid to win the Craftsman Truck Series championship on Wednesday by winning the Bud Pole for Friday's Chevy Silverado 150 at Phoenix International Raceway.

	Ted Musgrave celebrates his fourth Bud Pole Award of the 2003 season. Credit: Michelle Mecha/HSP

Musgrave logged his fourth pole of the 2003 season, lapping the one-mile oval at a record speed of 129.427 mph. He erased Joe Ruttman's mark of 129.204 that had stood since early 2000.

Musgrave, third in the series standings -- 69 points behind leader Brendan Gaughan -- finished second in last year's race.

The defending race winner, Kevin Harvick, made a late charge at the pole but fell just short, putting his Chevrolet on the outside front row at 129.180.

Andy Houston, Musgrave's Ultra Motorsports teammate, qualified third in the Team ASE Racing/Carquest Dodge. Ken Schrader took the No. 4 slot, ahead of Rick Crawford.

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David Starr, Bobby Hamilton, Travis Kvapil, Carl Edwards and Jon Wood rounded out the top 10.

Gaughan suffered his worst qualifying effort of the season -- 14th, nearly a half-second off Musgrave's pace.

Gaughan, who leads Kvapil by 45 points with two races remaining, hadn't qualified out of the top 10 since an 11th-place start at Kansas Speedway on July 5.

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All of his rivals in the standings -- Kvapil, Musgrave and Dennis Setzer - will start ahead of the Las Vegas driver's Orleans Hotel Dodge.

Friday's race is 150 laps around the one-mile oval and will be carried live by SPEED Channel, MRN Radio and XM Satellite Radio at 5:30 p.m. ET.