Casey Mears has been on the pole for 23 percent of his Busch starts in '04. Credit: Autostock

Mears sets track mark in qualifying for Ford 300

HOMESTEAD, Fla. -- Casey Mears was the fastest among 53 qualifiers Thursday to win his third Busch Pole award of the season. Mears' fast lap of 177.936 mph set the track qualifying record, besting Greg Biffle's mark of 177.416 set in 2003.

Mears' three poles -- in just 13 races -- tied Mike Bliss for third-most in the Busch Series this season, behind Martin Truex Jr. (7) and rookie Kyle Busch (5).

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"We were a little bit too tight in practice and we made some changes to help that and even though we ran a good lap, I was a little skeptical about being on the pole just a little bit because it was kinda a shot in the dark," Mears said.

"We had a great car and the conditions cooled off there at the end and I think helped us a little bit and it made me hungrier. It was fun, it's cool, anytime you can run a lap like that and set a new track record, that's awesome."

Truex Jr., who clinched the Busch Series championship last week at Darlington, will start second in the Ford 300 on Saturday.

"We're gonna try to win the race, which is what we have always tried to do," he said. "But I think we can take some extra gambles if it comes down to fuel mileage or something like that. I think we can make some gutsy calls that we haven't been able to do all year long."

Rookie Paul Menard, Kasey Kahne and Busch rounded out the top five.