Kurt Busch earns hometown Cup pole in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS — Kurt Busch won the pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup race, claiming the spot for the second straight week with a top speed of 196.328 mph on Friday in his hometown.

After setting a track qualifying record in Round 1, Busch won his second career pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in his No. 41 Chevrolet, turning a lap of 27.505 seconds.

"It was insanely fast," Busch said.

Joey Logano will start up front alongside Busch for Sunday's Kobalt 400 after clocking a lap in 27.572 seconds on the 11/2-mile oval. All three manufacturers are represented in the top three spots; after Busch's Chevrolet and Logano's Ford comes Matt Kenseth's Toyota after a lap of 195.78 mph.

Tampa's Aric Almirola will line up seventh, his best qualifying performance at Las Vegas. He has never finished in the top 15 there in seven previous tries.

F1 qualifying change: Formula One gave the go-ahead to a new qualifying system in which drivers will be eliminated more gradually, a change strongly opposed by four-time champion Sebastian Vettel. The rule was unanimously approved last month in a stakeholders' meeting and ratified at a World Motor Sport Council meeting in Geneva. There will still be three qualifying periods, but instead of having the slowest drivers eliminated after each session, they will drop out one by one every 90 seconds. Vettel, who also thinks F1 is "lacking leadership," is adamant drivers see no point in it. "We don't get what's wrong with the old qualifying and why we have to change it," he said.