Chasers top Loudon lineup for Round 1 of hunt for title

The qualifying session for Sunday's Sylvania 300 proved one thing: statistics, when applied to racers, sometimes don't mean a darn thing.

Clint Bowyer, who in three starts had never finished better than 24th and is the only driver in the Chase without a victory this season, waited until the wee hours of the qualifying session to throw down a lap at 29.206 seconds, 130.412 mph, knocking Martin Truex Jr. off the pole and making a rather loud statement that the Chase is anybody's game.

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Bowyer was second in the day's only practice, behind Chase leader Jimmie Johnson, so he had shown some speed, but Truex was the only driver over 130 mph when Bowyer took to the track as the 45th of 49 drivers.

Kurt Busch was the only driver that had a chance to burst Bowyer's bubble, and he fell just short as the next-to-last driver out.

Bowyer's best start previously at NHIS was 18th in this race last year, and his average finish is the worst among the Chasers at 23.9.

Truex, who led 46 laps in July on the way to a third-place finish, made the biggest noise of qualifying before Bowyer by putting the No. 1 Chevrolet on the pole midway through the 49-car lineup. His lap at 29.241 seconds, 130.255 mph, was the lone lap over 130 mph at the time and knocked fellow Chaser Kevin Harvick off the pole. Truex's average finish in three races is 14.3.

Kurt Busch joined Bowyer and Truex in the 130 mph club with his lap at 29.296 seconds, 130.011 mph, which was good for third on the grid. Busch, who swept both races in 2004 and finished second in the spring of 2005, is on a streak of four races finishing 19th or worse (the others were 38th, 35th and 21st). Busch has four top-five and five top-10 finishes in 13 starts, but his average finish is a fairly pedestrian 16.6.

Johnson will roll off fourth on Sunday after his lap at 29.344 seconds, 129.410 mph.

Johnson has two victories at NHIS, sweeping both 2003 events on the 1.058-mile speedway, and he averages 11.0 per finish. Johnson was fifth at NHIS in July, and has finished in the top 10 in more than half his 11 starts.

Tony Stewart, who was caught out on fuel in July and finished 12th, is looking to add to his two victories, nine top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 17 starts. The last time he won at Loudon was 2005, when he led 232 of the 300 laps on the way to the series title. Stewart put the No. 20 Chevrolet sixth in the field at 29.371 seconds, 129.679 mph.