Junqueira nabs Portland pole

Bruno Junqueira hopes his first pole since he broke his back last year in the Indianapolis 500 means a return to the winner’s circle.

Junqueira, who still has metal rods in his back from the accident at Indy, sneaked in his fast time late in the session Saturday to swipe the pole from A.J. Allmendinger for the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland by eight-thousandths of a second.

Junqueira lapped the road course at Portland International Raceway in 57.631 seconds at 122.684 mph in second-round qualifying.

The Brazilian had not won a pole since Long Beach in 2004.

“It’s just a matter of putting a race together. I think I can do it. I’ll do it tomorrow,” Junqueira said.

Allmendinger, who had the provisional pole on Friday, had already returned to the pits when Junqueira turned in his pole-winning run on his second-to-last lap of the day.

Allmendinger had the second-best lap at 57.639 seconds (122.667 mph) and will have the other front-row spot today.

Gilliland wins Busch race

Rookie David Gilliland became the first non-Nextel Cup driver to win a Busch Series race this season, passing J.J. Yeley with 10 laps to go and holding on to take the Meijer 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.

Nextel Cup drivers won the first 16 Busch Series races of the year.

Yeley, a Nextel Cup driver also seeking his first Busch Series victory, finished second for the second time in his career. His Joe Gibbs racing teammate, Denny Hamlin, finished third after starting from the pole.

Benson nabs 1st truck win

Johnny Benson finally broke through with a victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, holding off a challenge from Mark Martin in a two-lap, overtime shootout at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

The race was scheduled to end on lap 100, but the late caution set up the dramatic two-lap, green-white-checker finish that began on lap 101. Martin did what he could, but Benson easily held off the No. 6 Ford F-150, winning by 0.112 seconds.

Kahne avoids major crash

Pole winner Kasey Kahne was kicking himself mentally after slapping the wall during practice for today’s 3M Performance 400 in Brooklyn, Mich.

“I’m fine,” Kahne said as he studied the damage to the right side of his No. 9 Dodge Charger. “I’m upset with myself for making that mistake and giving these guys a lot of extra work. But I think they’ll fix it up as good as it was before.”

Kahne was on his fifth lap of the session and driving off turn two on the 2-mile Michigan International Speedway oval when he suddenly slid up to the wall.

Elma track promoter dies

Racing at the Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Wash., was canceled following the death of race promoter Fred Brownfield, track officials said.

Brownfield died during an accident at the track Friday night, his family confirmed in a statement posted on a Web site for the National Sprint Tour. He was struck by a car while lining up vehicles before the main race of the Shipwreck Beads Northwest Modified Nationals, track officials said in a statement.