In six events in NASCAR's top three touring series this year, Busch has scored six top-five finishes. He leads the points standings in the Cup and Craftsman Truck Series and stands second to teammate Tony Stewart in the Nationwide Series, where he has finished second in both of Stewart's wins.

"I've seen it coming for some time," third-place qualifier Mark Martin (181.293 mph) said of Busch's recent success. "Right now, he's the wheel man of the series. You watch Kyle Busch drive, and he takes your breath. I've been there before, and he's at the top of his game."

Busch captured his third pole in 117 Cup races and his third top-10 starting position in five events at Las Vegas.

"If we happened to come out here and win the thing this weekend, that would be pretty cool," said Busch, aware that no driver has won a Las Vegas Cup race from the pole. "Sooner or later, you wonder when the fall's going to happen, but I'm a pretty good surfer, and as long as this wave is going, I'm going to ride it."

Because his car felt loose during the qualifying run, Edwards was surprised he was able to post a time near the top of the board.

"That was pretty exciting," Edwards said. "I didn't even think we'd be on the board there. It was pretty free. . . I'm glad Kyle beat me by the margin he did, because I don't think I could have run that lap in a hundred tries."

With rain having washed out the Feb. 22 qualifying session for last Sunday's Auto Club 500, this was the first Cup series test of NASCAR's new format, in which all cars required to make the field on speed take their time trials at the end of the session.

Mike Skinner (fifth overall at 181.117 mph) was fastest of the go-or-go-home drivers. Kurt Busch, Patrick Carpentier, David Reutimann, Dale Jarrett, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip and Brian Vickers also made the field.

Johnny Sauter, an 11th-hour substitute for Jon Wood in the Wood Brothers Ford, wrecked off Turn 2 on his first qualifying lap and won't race on Sunday. Also failing to qualify were AJ Allmendinger, Joe Nemechek and John Andretti.

Notes: Jeff Gordon (fourth at 181.238 mph) was the fastest Hendrick Motorsports driver. His teammate, two-time defending Cup champion and three-time defending Vegas race winner Jimmie Johnson, will start 33rd. . . Schrader qualified for his first Cup race since October 2007 at Talladega. He'll start 19th.