RUSTY STARTING SUNDAY'S POCONO 500 IN 30TH SPOT

Miller Lite Dodge Driver Rusty Wallace capped off an unbelievably busy last five days by qualifying 30th for Sunday's Pocono 500 here at Pocono Raceway.

"It definitely wasn't what we needed or hoped for as far as the qualifying goes," Rusty offered after making his lap. "But, we'll have a good car in the race come Sunday. We'll get out there in tomorrow's two practices and get a good setup under the thing and be ready to bring it up to the front when the green flag falls."

Rusty arrived in the Pocono area this morning after a whirlwind week which saw him testing in Sonoma, Calif., on Tuesday, running an unrestricted No. 2 Dodge at 228 mph at Talladega, Ala., on Wednesday and piloting one of his No. 66 RWI Racing Busch cars to the fastest lap run at Kentucky Motor Speedway on Thursday.

All the travel amounted to more than 7,000 air miles and 19 hours logged aboard his Lear 31A.

It will be an "all-rookie" front row for the start of Sunday's race as Kasey Kahne took the pole with a new track record lap of 172.533 mph (52.164 seconds) and Brian Vickers claimed the second spot with his lap of 172.308 mph (52.232 seconds).

"I guess those guys just don't know any better and can't remember all the old setups that worked here in the past," chuckled Larry Carter, crew chief for Rusty's No. 2 Dodge team. "Seriously, those guys tested up here and it really paid off. With the new tires and all, the setups we're using here now are so different from what has worked in the past.

"We decided to use a test at Sears Point and not come here," continued Carter. "I think that was the right move in that it'll prove more important. Rusty will be in good shape for the race, mark my word. We'll get in race trim and it'll all shake out after that. Come Sunday, when they drop the green flag, the cream will rise to the top like it always does. We won't get the best spots on pit road, but we'll be okay once the race gets going."

Joe Nemechek claimed the third starting spot for Sunday's race, turning in a lap of 172.183 mph (52.270 seconds). Mark Martin starts fourth with his 171.887 mph (52.360 seconds) lap and Jimmie Johnson took the fifth spot with his lap of 171.825 mph (52.379 seconds). Jeff Gordon, Jeremy Mayfield, Tony Stewart, Greg Biffle and Dale Jarrett round out Sunday's top 10 starters.

The two-hour practice session leading up to qualifying was held under cloudy skies, with the temperature in the chilly low 60s. About midway during the qualifying session, which began at 3:10 p.m., the clouds gave way to sunny conditions and the track warmed up some 10 degrees.

Vickers paced the practice session with a fast lap of 52.254 seconds. Johnson was second with a 52.327, Elliott Sadler third with a 52.412, Jarrett fourth with a 52.516 and Martin fifth with a 52.548. Rusty's 53.320 was 29th.

Sunday's 200-lap, 500-mile race starts at 1:00 p.m. EDT and features live coverage by FOX-TV and MRN Radio.