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.

Harvick, who had to sweat Richmond to make it into the Chase, clocked in at 29.443 seconds, 129.362 mph in his No. 29 Chevy, good for eighth on Sunday. He's a winner at NHIS, doing the trick in the fall last year, and he has eight top-10s in 13 starts.

Carl Edwards, who crashed his primary car in practice and was forced to the backup for qualifying, rolled to 11th at 29.520 seconds, 129.024 mph. Edwards has had limited success in six starts at NHIS, with a second-place finish his best result. He's led a total of two laps there, and his average finish is 14.0.

Kyle Busch doesn't have the numbers his older brother has at NHIS, but then he's only had five starts. He does have a victory, in the spring last year, along with a pair of top-five finishes. The No. 5 Chevrolet wound up 12th on the grid at 29.520 seconds, 129.024 mph.

The most recent NHIS winner, Denny Hamlin, did much better in qualifying than he did in practice (31st), putting his No. 11 Chevrolet into the field 14th at 128.946 mph (29.583 seconds). Hamlin has never finished worse than sixth in three starts, and that came in his first race there last year. He was fourth in the fall and won in July. His average finish is a truly baroque 3.6.

Jeff Gordon, who has three victories, 11 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes at NHIS in 25 starts, was 17th at 29.565 seconds, 128.828 mph. Gordon has led an amazing 1,141 laps there, and his average finish is a surprisingly low 11.9.

Jeff Burton is the all-time victory leader at NHIS with four, and the last time he won there he led all 300 laps. He generally finishes well, averaging 12.9 in 25 starts, with 12 top-10s and seven top-fives. His No. 31 Chevrolet was 22nd at 29.710, 128.199 mph.

Matt Kenseth wasn't very good in practice, ranking 46th of 49 cars, and he will be the last of the Chasers under the green flag on Sunday in 31st. Kenseth was half a second quicker in qualifying, posting a lap at 29.794 seconds, 127.838 mph. Kenseth finishes in the top 10 in two out of three starts (he's 10 for 15), and he was second to Busch in the fall race of 2004.

The first race of the Chase is not the place to start out in a hole, as Stewart and Ryan Newman will tell you after their crash there in 2004 left them with little hope over the next nine races.

The lone practice session of the day saw eight of the 12 in the top 11, and the rest 23rd or worse. Johnson, Bowyer and Kurt Busch were 1-2-3 in practice, and Stewart, Harvick, Truex, Gordon and Kyle Busch were seventh through 11th, respectively.

On the flip side, Burton was 23rd, Hamlin was 31st, Edwards got the backup to 43rd and Kenseth was a dismal 46th.