Montoya wins pole for Sylvania 300

LOUDON, N.H. _ A newcomer to NASCAR's Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship, Juan Montoya bolstered his chances of winning Sunday's Sylvania 300, the first race in the Chase, by capturing the pole position with a record lap of 133.431 miles per hour.

Montoya, who was quickest in practice (132.485 m.p.h.) toured the 1.058-mile oval here in his No. 42 Target Chevrolet in 28.545 seconds, bettering the track record (28.561 seconds, 133.357 m.p.h.) established by Ryan Newman in 2003.

``It was a good lap, I guess,'' said the non-plussed Montoya, who captured the second pole of his Sprint Cup career, both coming this season, and first in six races at NHMS.

``It was really good,'' Montoya said. ``We really nailed the lap. In practice we were faster and I wasn't too happy with the lap there but I really nailed the lap.''

Montoya knocked Tony Stewart, a two-time Sprint Cup champion and two-time winner at NHMS, from the provisional pole. Stewart wound up second fastest in 132.581 miles per hour in his No. 14 Office Depot Chevy.

``If we qualify good here, we normally race good here,'' Stewart said. ``So I'm pretty excited about today so far. This is the best I have qualified here for a long time.''

Kurt Busch, a three-time winner at NHMS, qualified third fastest in the No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge in 132.581 m.p.h. while his Penske Racing teammate, David Stremme, was the fastest qualifier among the non-Chase drivers. He was sixth fastest in 131.943.

Scott Speed (27th) was the fastest qualifying rookie in 130.649.