Busch remains hot on cold day in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS - Neither daylong rain showers nor unseasonably frigid temperatures managed to cool down Kurt Busch's blistering hot streak Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

	Kurt Busch is a Las Vegas native. Credit: Autostock

Busch, the Winston Cup Series points leader, qualified fifth for Sunday's UAW-DaimlerChrysler 400 at the 1.5-mile track, marking his second consecutive top-five start in Sin City.

In three career starts here, he has never started worse than ninth.

"We're satisfied somewhat with that lap," said Busch, a Vegas native. "That's exactly what we tested at and that's what we ran all day today.

"We just didn't pick up the extra tenth that we needed to sit on the pole. I was hoping we could run a little quicker, but, all in all, it's a great start for us. We've been terrible so far this year, so that's a bump up."

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Though Busch has posted runner-up finishes in each of the season's first two events, his qualifying efforts have been far less stellar. He started the Daytona 500 in 36th position and the Subway 400 at Rockingham in 27th position.

Though he didn't earn the pole for the home folks, he has no qualms with the top five.

"The pressure is on," he said. "We're somewhat deliberate. I thought we could get the pole today for all the fans here, but we came up just a little shy. The nice thing is that gives us a good starting position up front."