Rookie Ambrose snares Busch Series pole

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - Marcos Ambrose scored the first Busch Series pole of his career by posting the fastest lap in qualifying for Saturday's Sam's Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park.

Ambrose (Wood Brothers/JTG Racing) turned a lap of 117.799 mph around Memphis' 0.75-mile track. He edged Michael Waltrip Racing's David Reutimann, who went 117.734.

"It's a great surprise for us," Ambrose said. "We've been working really hard the last six months on our short-track program, we're building our team, we're getting better on intermediates. We've had everything but the pole this year: We've had second, third, fourth, fifth and sixth. So to finally get the top spot, it feels like we've accomplished something for this year."

Reutimann failed to qualify for the Nextel Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway but held the pole for much of the second half of Saturday morning's session before Ambrose knocked him off.

Dario Franchitti, the Indianapolis 500 winner and Indy Racing League champion, qualified third in his Busch Series debut for Chip Ganassi Racing. Jason Leffler (Braun Racing) was fourth and Jason Keller (CJM Racing) fifth. Brad Coleman (Joe Gibbs Racing) qualified sixth, followed by Sterling Marlin (Phoenix Racing), Bobby East (Brewco Motorsports), Stanton Barrett (Stanton Barrett Motorsports) and Casey Atwood, who was qualifying for Joe Gibbs Racing's J.J. Yeley.

Kertus Davis (DDL Motorsports), Carl Long (Fridell-Carter Motorsports), Morgan Shepherd (Faith Motorsports), Marc Mitchell (CJM Racing), Mike Harmon (Richardson-Netzloff Racing) and Chris Lawson (Means Racing) failed to qualify.

Colin Braun (Roush Fenway Racing) and Chase Austin (Rusty Wallace Inc.) made the race on qualifying speed and will make their Busch Series debuts in Saturday's race, which is slated to being at 3:30 p.m. EDT.

• Mentioned Drivers:
• Brad Coleman