Kurt Busch leads ho-hum qualifying night by Chasers

For once, all the attention fell on someone other than points leader Jeff Gordon and chief rival Jimmie Johnson, as Greg Biffle took the pole for Sunday's Pep Boys Auto 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Of course, Kurt Busch had something to do with that too, as he out-qualified both the Chase leader and the runner-up.

In a unique twist just five days before Halloween, the 12 Chasers' qualifying laps were separated by a total of .666 seconds.

Busch led the way among the Chasers, putting the No. 2 Dodge second on the grid with a lap at 28.811 seconds, 192.426 mph. That was just .004 seconds off Biffle's pole time.

Busch should run very well at Atlanta, but for some reason it hasn't shown up on paper. In 13 starts, he has a victory in 2002, which is also his lone top-five finish, and two more top-10s to go along with it. His average finish is 22.3, ninth-best of the Chase competitors.

Johnson was next in the Chase, putting No. 48 Chevrolet in the sixth spot with a lap at 28.996 seconds, 191.199 mph. Johnson is pretty good at Atlanta, historically, notching two victories, seven top-five and eight top-10 finishes in just 12 starts. His average finish is 10.083, second-best in the Chase, and he's "just" 712 laps behind Gordon in laps led.

Gordon is never very far from the front, and he put the No. 24 Chevy in eighth at 29.069 seconds, 190.719 mph. Gordon is, as on most weekends, the leading winner among Chase drivers at Atlanta with four. In 30 starts, Gordon has 12 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes against only five DNFs, and the last time he won here was in this race back in 2003.

Gordon also leads the Chase in laps led at Atlanta with 1,050 (1,575 miles on the 1.5-mile configuration, 1,617 on the 1.54-mile configuration), and his average finish of 13.3 is fourth-best in the Chase.

After Gordon, five Chasers anchored the last five spots in the top 20.

Carl Edwards was 15th in the No. 99 Ford, running a lap at 29.207 seconds, 189.818 mph. Edwards earned his first two victories at Atlanta, sweeping the 2005 races there, and he's hoping for a return to Victory Lane, if for no other reason than to take people's minds off the post-race dust-up with Matt Kenseth at Martinsville.

In six Atlanta starts, Edwards has two victories, three top-five and five top-10 finishes. His stat line is unique: he has finished first twice and seventh twice alongside a third-place run in his 2004 debut and a 40th-place result in the spring of 2006. His average finish is a Chase-best 9.8, the only Chaser in single digits.

One row behind on the inside came Matt Kenseth, with whom Edwards got up-close and personal after Martinsville last week. Kenseth put the No. 17 Ford in 17th, running exactly the same lap as Edwards, only later in the session.

Kenseth has never won at Atlanta, but he's almost a mortal lock for the top 10. In 15 starts, Kenseth has five top-five and eight top-10 finishes, the best of which was a third-place run there in March. His average is a chipper 15.6, fifth among Chasers. He also has three DNFs.

Denny Hamlin came next, slightly behind the two Fords in his No. 11 Chevy. Hamlin's lap at 29.213 seconds, 189.779 mph was good for 18th. Hamlin has a top-10 in four starts, racing to eighth in this race last year. His average finish is 19.3, good for seventh among Chasers.

Kyle Busch was 19th in the No. 5 Chevrolet, just .003 seconds behind Hamlin at 189.759 mph. The younger Busch can't seem to get off the number 12 at Atlanta. He's finished 12th three times in six starts. Of course, the other finishes are 27th, 32nd and 43rd. Even so, his average finish is just a tick off his brother's mark at 23.0.

Martin Truex Jr. came 20th in the No. 1 Chevrolet, clocking in another .003 seconds behind Busch at 29.219 seconds, 189.740 mph. Truex ran eighth there in the spring, his best effort in five starts. He also has three DNFs in those five races. His average finish of 28.8 is worst in the Chase.

Fully half of the 12 Chase drivers have won at Atlanta, and all but Truex have led at least one lap.

Clint Bowyer was the ninth Chaser in the field, pushing the No. 07 Chevrolet to 26th at 29.267 seconds, 189.428 mph. Oddly enough, he shares the 13th row with Jamie McMurray in the No. 26 Ford in a row of rival liquors.

Bowyer is ahead of the last two tracks on the circuit, stats-wise, having a top-10 finish at Atlanta (sixth in the spring) in one of his three races. He's led two laps, too. His average finish is 19.3, eighth-best in the Chase.

Jeff Burton wound up 28th in the field at 29.276 seconds, 189.370 mph. Burton has 26 starts at Atlanta, with six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes. He's finished fourth there on four occasions, the last coming earlier this year. His average finish of 17.2 is sixth among the Chasers.

Tony Stewart is the defending race champion, and tied with Johnson and Carl Edwards with two Atlanta victories behind Gordon's four. Stewart has seven top-five and 11 top-10 runs in 17 Atlanta starts, and this is always a big race for him since his sponsor, The Home Depot, is based there.

Stewart, who put his Chevrolet in 30th at 29.301 seconds, 189.209 mph, is second in laps led among the Chasers with 790, and he averages 11.5 per finish, third-best in the Chase.

Kevin Harvick, who earned his first victory at Atlanta just a few weeks after the death of Dale Earnhardt at Daytona in 2001, has not been as good there since. In 13 starts, Harvick has just two top-five and two top-10 finishes, compared to three DNFs, and his average finish of 25.2 is 11th of the 12 Chasers.

Harvick was 34th and last among the Chasers, running a lap at 29.477 seconds, 188.079 mph.