Martin surprised by his front-row qualifying run

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- All Cup drivers seem to enjoy racing at Michigan International Speedway, a wide, 2-mile track with multiple grooves to run fast on.

Qualifying at MIS, however, can get more than a little hairy.

"This place is easy to drive, but my car wasn't," said Mark Martin, after qualifying second on Friday for Sunday's Carfax 400.

Then Martin joked that although he qualified poorly last time at MIS -- starting 32nd in a race that he eventually won in June -- he hadn't expected crew chief Alan Gustafson to make changes to his No. 5 Chevrolet that turned out to be as dramatic as they were.

"Like I told Alan, 'You tried to kill me, but I'm not mad at you,' " said Martin, chuckling.

Martin said his car was way too tight in qualifying for the Michigan race in June, and again during qualifying for a later race in Texas. So he expected Gustafson to free it up some, but not quite so much.

"I didn't think about how loose the car was going to be," Martin said. "I just found out when I hit the corner. I would never do it again."

Greg Biffle is another driver plenty comfortable at MIS.

But for a guy battling to be one of the 12 drivers included in the Chase, Biffle must have felt a little like the guy who brought a pea-shooter to a gun fight after attempting to contend with Martin during Friday's qualifying.

Biffle enters Sunday's race 10th in points but with only a nine-point edge on Martin, who is 11th. And while Martin nearly won the pole with a top speed of 187.242 mph, Biffle had to settle for a lap of 185.385 mph that landed him 17th on Sunday's starting grid. (Continued)