Mark Martin earns first pole since 2001

Mark Martin’s lap during Friday’s qualifying for the Kobalt Tools 500 blew away the generally accepted theory that a race-car driver’s performance diminishes with age.

The 50-year-old veteran, back in Sprint Cup on a full-time basis after two years of semi-retirement, won the pole with a lap at 187.045 mph. It was his first pole since May 2001 at Richmond and the 42nd of his career, and it was his first at Atlanta Motor Speedway since the spring of 1992.

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Brant Sanderlin / bsanderlin@ajc.com

Mark Martin earned the 42nd pole position of his career Friday.

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Only two drivers, Martin and Harry Gant, have won Sprint Cup poles past their 50th birthday.

“I feel like a rookie,” said Martin, who had qualified second 16 times between his last two poles. “It was a pretty strenuous qualifying session.”

Kurt Busch, who won the outside pole in his No. 2 Dodge, agreed that all drivers were on edge during their qualifying laps.

“Everybody’s holding their breath for the 30 seconds they’re out there,” he said.

Martin said his pole is a good sign that his team is overcoming a disappointing start to 2008. He has blown engines in his past two starts.

“This is the first solid step of turning around our luck,” he said.

With drivers from the top 35 teams in car-owner points guaranteed starting spots, the most pressure in qualifying is on the drivers outside the elite group. Joe Nemechek was best of the go-or-go-home drivers, qualifying eighth in his unsponsored, self-owned No. 87 Toyota.

Others driving their way into the starting field were Dave Blaney, David Gilliland, A.J. Allmendinger, Mike Bliss, Travis Kvapil, Tony Stewart and Dawsonville’s Bill Elliott, who is wheeling the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford on a part-time basis this season.

Missing the race were the Bodine brothers, Todd and Geoffrey, as well as Scott Riggs and Jeremy Mayfield.

Three local drivers will start near the back Sunday. Peachtree City’s Reed Sorenson qualified 32nd. Unadilla’s David Ragan was 39th, and former Alpharetta resident Joey Logano was 44th-fastest and had to rely on his car owner’s points to take the 42nd starting position.

Ragan remained upbeat about the weekend in his comments to reporters afterwards. “We don’t have the speed we want, but the good news is it’s Friday and not Sunday morning,” he said.

Crawford to make record Truck start

Former Cleveland, Ga., resident Rick Crawford will be making his Camping World Truck Series record 300th start in Saturday’s American Commercial Lines 200 at AMS.

Crawford’s entire truck career has been spent with one owner, Ozona, Texas businessman Tom Mitchell, and with one manufacturer, Ford Motor Company.

“We started with one truck and one engine, and now we’ve got two really nice race teams sponsored by International running in the series,” Crawford said. “It’s quite a commitment by the Mitchell family.”

Rookie James Buescher drives the team’s No. 10 Ford, the companion to Crawford’s familiar No. 14.

Teams pushed engines too far

Defending Kobalt Tools 500 champion Kyle Busch said that the blown engines that were a big factor last week at Las Vegas Motor Speedway were due in large part to team’s pushing the limits of the engines in an effort to get more horsepower.

He said that with NASCAR’s tight rules regarding bodies and chassis on the cars, the only real place left to find a significant speed increase is in the engine compartment.

“The faster you go from 160 miles per hour to 200 miles per hour … the better you’re going to be down the straightaway, the faster you’re going to get to the other side.” Busch said.