Kyle Busch claims pole at Pocono

Autoracing Betting Lines

06/04/2010 - Long Pond, PA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Kyle Busch will start on the pole for Sunday's Gillette Fusion ProGlide 500 after topping the qualifying charts at Pocono Raceway.

Busch, who will make his 200th career Sprint Cup Series start this weekend, turned a lap of 169.485 m.p.h. for his second pole of the season and the seventh of his career.

"To start on the pole for race 200 is going to mean a lot, and of course, it will mean even more if we can win this thing," said Busch, who won the pole at the 2.5-triangular Pocono track for the first time.

Busch is currently 29 points behind leader Kevin Harvick, who will start 22nd.

Clint Bowyer qualified on the outside pole after posting a lap of 169.138 m.p.h.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. took the third spot, while Kurt Busch, the winner of last weekend's 600-mile race at Charlotte, and Denny Hamlin, who won at Pocono for the third time last August, rounded out the top-five.

Tony Stewart, the defending race winner, qualified sixth.

"The first hour of practice, we weren't very good, then we got going through the last half-hour," Stewart said. "This has been a place where we haven't been that good lately, so we're going to try and get good again."

Juan Pablo Montoya was seventh, followed by Kasey Kahne, Ryan Newman and Jeff Gordon.

Four-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson will start 25th.

Terry Cook and Ted Musgrave failed to qualify.

The 500-mile race at Pocono is scheduled to start just after 1:00 p.m. (et).

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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