Martin surprised by his front-row qualifying run (cont'd)

Among other things, Biffle contended that Martin benefited from cloud cover while Biffle and others were forced to go out earlier in qualifying under sunny, cloudless skies.

"It's not really a surprise," Biffle said. "We knew our car was fast and we felt like we could run pretty fast. But we struggled a little bit in qualifying trim. We kind of got off our routine. We normally spend a lot of time in race trim; this time we tried qualifying for quite a bit of time, and couldn't get it going in qualifying trim.

“

We won from 32nd last time here. But you know, you're making it hard on yourself if you do that.

”

-- MARK MARTIN

"The cloud-cover effect is pretty huge. It'll be a couple of tenths faster with a cloud. You'll be out there running and a cloud will come over, and the next lap by you'll pick up a tenth and a half. So the clouds mean a lot."

Biffle and Martin are at the front of a cloudy mix of six drivers currently 10th through 15th in the standings who are separated by a mere 132 points.

Brian Vickers -- another driver sitting on the Chase bubble in 14th heading into Sunday's event, just 96 points out of 12th _-- won the pole with a lap of 187.242 mph.

Others on the Chase bubble include Kyle Busch (13th in points, qualified a disappointing 39th with a speed of 182.746 mph); Matt Kenseth (12th in points, 25th in qualifying); and Clint Bowyer (15th in points, 23rd in qualifying).

Clouds or no clouds, Biffle said qualifying doesn't always translate into who runs best on race day at MIS.

"It's a little bit easier to get something to work here because this race track provides so many opportunities," Biffle said. "This is the only downforce race track we go to where you can get four- and five-wide and still have room. It does narrow up a little bit off of Turn 2, but that's really the only spot. In the middle of the corner, entering the corner, you've got plenty of opportunity. Normally you can get your car to work somewhere -- bottom, top or middle.

"I like all of the race tracks coming up -- especially this one. It's my favorite track to come to. I feel really good about the next four races, finishing in the top five."

Biffle has won twice previously at Michigan. But again, that pales in comparison to the track record Martin has at the place. Martin's win last June was his fifth on the 2-mile oval, and came after Biffle was leading and ran out of fuel toward the end of the race.

Martin won't have to come from so far in the rear of the field to get to the front Sunday.

"We won from 32nd last time here. But you know, you're making it hard on yourself if you do that," Martin said. "Qualifying is part of it. And it's a competition, just like the race is. Everybody wants to do as well as they can in every single competition we have."