By anyone's standards Friday was an eventful day for Kurt Busch. A disappointing showing in the first practice session for Saturday's Bud Shootout was followed by a contentious crash with his old nemesis Tony Stewart in the second session and a visit to NASCAR's hauler to have the riot act read to him. But the day ended with Busch drawing pole position for NASCAR's traditional season curtain-raiser.
Much to the chagrin of the officials, Busch's Miller Lite Dodge will start the Anheuser-Busch sponsored event from pole position with veteran Mark Martin alongside him on the front row in the #8 DEI Chevrolet.
All 23 drivers drew their starting positions at random with the sponsors obviously hoping that Kasey Kahne would draw pole position for his #9 Budweiser Dodge but Kahne drew the number eight starting position behind Busch, Martin, the leading Toyota of Michael Waltrip, the Ford's of Jamie McMurray and David Gilliland, the Ganassi Dodge of practice pacesetter Reed Sorenson and former Budweiser darling Dale Earnhardt Jr.
Tony Stewart, who led the opening practice session in his #20 Joe Gibbs Toyota will start tenth with Hendrick teammates Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Gordon set to start 18th and 22nd respectively in their back-up machines.
Saturday's two-part non championship event starts at 8pm local time and will be televised live in the UK on Sky Sports.
![Kurt Busch with Penske Racing crew-chief Roy McCauley at Daytona. [Pic Credit Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images]](http://pix.crash.net/thumbs/190250.jpg)
