DARLINGTON, S.C. -- To get a true indication of just how unexpected Derrike Cope's fifth-place qualifying run was Friday at Darlington Raceway, one needed look no further than NASCAR's weekly statistical update book.
Cope wasn't in it.
Friday's effort marks one of just a handful of times that Cope has qualified in the top five on the Cup circuit.
Cope was unavailable for comment due to Happy Hour practice obligations in the Busch Series, so one of his competitors spoke for him.
"I was surprised (by the run) just like everybody else, but I saw him running last week and he was competitive with a lot of people," said last week's winner Dale Earnhardt, Jr., who qualified second Friday at Darlington.
"I think a lot of people thought when that team was being put together last year, and over the offseason, that it was a field-filler. Last week was my initial noticing of him running competitively.
"They're really coming to the racetrack with a legitimate effort to run competitively."
In four starts this season, Cope has yet to finish better than 30th, and until Friday had only qualified inside the top-35 once. But during Friday's practice session there was an inkling that his car this weekend was far better than usual.
He would ultimately rank 23rd in that practice, but for much of the session he was in the top 15.
"That's pretty cool, because that's like an out-of-the-box ... new team," Earnhardt said. "That's pretty neat.
"Great job by those guys and great job for Derrike, obviously, after being out of the sport for a few years and being competitive with all the things that have changed over the years."
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Kahne keeps rolling with another Bud Pole
March 19, 2004
7:02 PM EST (0002 GMT)
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- Rookie Kasey Kahne is proving he's a force on the NASCAR circuit.
On Friday, the 23-year-old driver won his second Nextel Cup pole in five tries, adding the top qualifying spot at Darlington Raceway to the one he took two weeks ago in Las Vegas.
Dale Jr.: Outside pole Credit: Autostock
"I've always loved qualifying," said Kahne, whose fast lap was 171.716 mph. "You have to really get up and got for it, so I've always enjoyed it.
"That car was just perfect, and it felt like we made a perfect lap. But I am surprised. We weren't expecting to get two poles already this season."
This one came on the treacherous 1.366-mile, egg-shaped oval made even trickier by the installation of the new SAFER barriers on the outside wall in all four turns.
The steel and foam barriers, designed to cushion the impact of a crash, extend out from the concrete walls about 30 inches. That's not much at most tracks, but it has narrowed the already-tight Darlington turns considerably.
Several drivers bounced off the barriers, including two-time Daytona 500 champion Michael Waltrip in qualifying and Ryan Newman in practice.
"It's always been a tough track since I've been coming here," said Kahne, who also qualified second to 18-year-old rookie Kyle Busch earlier in the day in the Busch series time trials. "Now it's a little tougher. I held my breath a bit."
He needn't have bothered.
The closest competitor was Dale Earnhardt Jr., whose fast lap was 171.154. But Earnhardt, coming off a win last Sunday in Atlanta, wasn't fooled by his No. 2 starting position for Sunday's Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.
"We were nowhere near as fast as Kasey," Earnhardt said. "I'm happy we just keep improving here."
He best previous start in eight tries at Darlington was 10th in 2000.
Earnhardt is very impressed with Kahne, who replaced Bill Elliott this season in the No. 9 Evernham Motorsports Dodge.
"Kasey is a race car driver," Earnhardt said.
Noting that Kahne came up through the U.S. Auto Club short-track ranks, Earnhardt added that comparisons to Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart -- champions who also came from open-wheel racing -- are inevitable.
"Those drivers seem to be able to come in and do well right from the beginning if they get the right kind of equipment," Earnhardt said.
Kahne and Earnhardt have been two of the most productive drivers on the circuit this season.
Since an engine failure in the season-opening Daytona 500 _ which Earnhardt won -- Kahne has finished second, second and third. He's the only driver in NASCAR's modern era, dating to 1972, to finish in the top five in three of his first four Cup starts.
Kahne goes Sunday's race fourth in the standings. He's just 33 points behind third-placed Earnhardt, who has the two victories and a fifth-place run to go along with a miserable 35th-place run in Las Vegas.
Newman, who had won two of four poles this season and six of the last 10, wound up a disappointing sixth with a lap of 170.792.
"Kasey ran a really good lap and I don't know if we could have beat that, but we should have been closer," Newman said. "I messed up in turn two. I got too low and just about stuck it in the fence."
Greg Biffle (171.083), Kurt Busch (171.023) and surprising Derrike Cope (170.910) also beat Newman on Friday. It is Cope's first top-10 starting position since taking his only career pole in 1998.
Rounding out the top 10 were Newman's Penske Racing South teammate Rusty Wallace at 170.348, Stewart at 170.094, six-time Darlington winner Gordon at 170.083 and Elliott Sadler at 170.053.
Ricky Craven, who beat Kurt Busch by inches in a fender-banging finish here last March, qualified 36th at 166.896.
"We'll just have to do like we did last year," Craven said. "We started 31st last year and that didn't prevent us from winning."
Series champion and points leader Matt Kenseth, a time-two winner in the first four races, qualified 15.
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*da2kokib*
~~Jules