Nemechek emphasizes nickname by capturing another pole

Joe Nemechek has rediscovered that old qualifying magic.

“Front Row Joe” went four years without winning a pole, but now has two in a row after leading qualifying Friday for the NASCAR Nextel Cup race at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan.

The eighth pole of his career wasn’t easy.

“That’s as close as you can be to out of control and still have control of the race car,” Nemechek said after taking the top starting spot for Sunday’s Banquet 400 with a lap of 180.156 mph.

Nemechek, whose pole last week at Talladega was his first since October of 2000, went on to finish seventh in that race, leaving him 24th in the series standings.

It’s the first time Nemechek has won two straight poles.

Evernham Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne and Jeremy Mayfield were the closest to him. Rookie Kahne, also second in Busch Series qualifying earlier in the day, turned a lap of 179.253. Mayfield, fastest of the 10 drivers racing for the Nextel Cup championship, ran 179.188.

Another title contender, Jimmie Johnson, was next at 179.045, followed by Bobby Labonte at 178.891, Greg Biffle at 178.453, and contenders Ryan Newman, the defending race winner, at 178.424, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 178.389.

Earnhardt will go into the race trailing series leader Kurt Busch by 12 points after NASCAR docked Junior 25 points earlier this week for cursing during a live TV interview after his victory last Sunday at Talladega.

“What I did was not correct, but I don’t think it’s fair to take points off the scoreboard,” Earnhardt said. “Still, we’ve got a lot of racing left to do and we’ll try to make sure those 25 points don’t make any difference when it’s over.”

NBC, responding to Earnhardt’s vulgarity, placed a 5-second delay on its NASCAR telecasts. Motor Racing Network will follow NBC’s lead and add a delay to its radio broadcasts, beginning with Sunday’s race.

Menard claims first Busch pole

Paul Menard won his first NASCAR Busch Series pole, edging Kasey Kahne by two-thirds of a second at Kansas Speedway.

Menard took the pole for the Mr. Goodcents 300 with a top lap of 176.062 mph in a Chevrolet. Kahne — going for his third consecutive pole — drove his Dodge around the 1 1/2 -mile tri-oval at 175.684.

Menard’s best previous start was eighth in April at Talladega.

Typhoon delays qualifying

Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka was postponed because of approaching Typhoon Ma-on.

Race organizers and Formula One moved pre-qualifying and qualifying to Sunday morning. The race is scheduled to start Sunday afternoon.

Rain from the typhoon drenched the track during practice. More than half of the 25 cars either slid or went completely off the track.