A Quick Look At Emerson Radio 250 Qualifying

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• Kyle Busch, driving his Sta-Green/Lowe's Chevrolet, earned the pole position for Friday night's Emerson Radio 250 Busch Series race at Richmond International Raceway with a lap of 21.361-seconds, 126.399 mph. Busch's 11th career Busch Series pole was his third this season and his eighth top-10 start in 15 races this year. At Richmond, the 22-year-old driver has now claimed two Busch poles and three top-10 starts in eight races at RIR. His other pole at the 0.75-mile track came in 2004. Prior to earning the pole just a few hours before the race, Busch had not qualified better than 12th in his past five Richmond starts.

• Matt Kenseth was the top qualifying Ford, earning the outside front row starting position with a lap of 21.381 seconds, 126.280 mph. Kenseth's second-place start in his Arby's Ford is his eighth top 10 in 16 Richmond races, and his 11th top 10 in 18 NASCAR Busch Series races this season.

• Ryan Newman led the Dodge contingent with a fourth-place qualifying effort in his Kodak Charger. The Emerson Radio 250 is the third consecutive event in which Newman has started fourth. He also qualified fourth for last weekend's NEXTEL Cup and Busch Series races at California Speedway.

• Jason Leffler led the Toyota effort. Leffler qualified seventh with a 21.521-second, 125.459-mph lap in his Great Clips Toyota. Leffler also earned Toyota's first Busch Series victory this year at Indianapolis' O'Reilly Raceway Park in late July.

• The top rookie was Brad Keselowski, who earned the 15th starting position in his U.S. Navy Chevrolet. Keselowski, who was involved in a horrifying crash last weekend at California Speedway, was cleared to race this weekend by Dr. Jerry Petty. However, car owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. wanted to make sure his driver was ready to step back into the car. He took Keselowski out on his Go-Kart track and ran several laps with him.

• At age 18, Bryan Clauson made his Busch Series debut at Richmond, starting 25th in his Memorex Dodge owned by Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The Indiana driver graduated from high school in June and won the recent ARCA race at Gateway International Raceway. While still in high school, at age 17, he had to obtain a hall pass so he could be absent from English class and attend a meeting with Memorex executives. His crew chief was veteran Brad Parrott.

Compiled by Deb Williams