Cook claims pole for Trucks' season-opener

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Terry Cook began to get over a disappointing year, claiming the pole Thursday for the season-opening NASCAR Craftsman Truck series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Cook turned a fast lap of 183.643 mph on the 2 1/2-mile trioval, putting his Ford in the top spot for Friday's Florida Dodge Dealers 250.

He was making his debut with a new team after failing to crack the top five in any race a year ago.

"It's just a credit to all of those guys for the amount of work and hours they put in to get that truck to where it is today," Cook said. "It's their first-ever race truck and it just tells you the caliber of people that they have."

Cook won his eighth career pole, the first since last August at Indianapolis Raceway Park. But he failed to win a race, a major letdown after his four victories in 2002.

Cook will start on the front row with Chase Montgomery, who settled for the outside in a Dodge with a speed of 183.113. Defending series champion Travis Kvapil was third at 182.830.

Kvapil drives a Toyota, the first foreign manufacturer to race in NASCAR's top three series. Only two of the Japanese Tundras cracked the top 10, but none of the other five placed lower than 17th.

"I knew we'd do well, but not this well," Kvapil said. "Toyota didn't have a lot of time to fine tune the engine, but they should be very proud of the improvements they made from testing in January."