Musgrave earns pole for Truck opener

Fla. Dodge Dealers 250 Pos.  Driver  Make  1.  Ted Musgrave  Dodge  2.  Ron Hornaday Jr.  Chevrolet  3.  Mike Bliss  Chevrolet  4.  Brian Rose  Dodge  5.  Jason Leffler  Dodge  Complete lineup, click here.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) -- Ted Musgrave put a Dodge truck on the pole Tuesday in qualifying for the season-opening Florida Dodge Dealers 250 at Daytona International Speedway.

Musgrave, runner-up last year in NASCAR's Craftsman Truck Series standings, ran a lap of 187.215 mph, beating two-time series champion Ron Hornaday by nearly 2 mph.

It was Musgrave's third career pole and first on Daytona's 2 1/2-mile oval. The former Winston Cup regular is starting his second full season of truck racing.

"You definitely wouldn't race it like that," Musgrave said. "That was just qualifying, a one-lap, all-out deal. It's nice to kick off the season with a pole."

That was a different tack than last year when Musgrave often worked on the truck's race configuration in the early practice rather than trying to qualify well.

"I lost the championship to Jack Sprague last year by him qualifying up front and leading more laps, so maybe qualifying better will put us over the hump," Musgrave said.

Hornaday's 185.778 put his Chevrolet on the outside of the front row for Friday's 250-mile race.

Mike Bliss was third in a Chevrolet at 185.628, followed by the Dodges of Brian Rose, Jason Leffler and Carlos Contreras.

Sprague has moved to the Busch Series and will not defend his truck title.

 

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