Dover, Del. ? Joe Nemechek added another pole to his glittering Busch series resume, taking the top spot with a qualifying record Friday at Dover International Speedway.

It was the third Busch pole this year and 17th overall for 1992 series champion Nemechek, a Winston Cup regular who also will race Sunday in NASCAR’s top series. He’ll try for his 15th Busch career win and third of 2003 today.

He likes his chances.

“This is a brand new race car we came up here with a few weeks ago and tested for a day, but all we did was race stuff so qualifying was a feather in our caps,” he said. “So we’re pretty fast in race trim.”

At the very least, Nemechek’s test went far better than one he made two years ago at The Monster Mile, when he crashed and broke a leg, putting him out of action for several weeks.

“I knocked the wall out in Turn 3,” he recalled. “We just wanted to come back and work on some things.”

Nemechek put his Chevrolet on the pole with a run of 156.747 mph. That edged out Kasey Kahne, whose Ford had a fast lap of 155.750.

Nemechek is winless in 13 races, with a best finish of second on the high-banked concrete, and history is not on his side. In 21 years of Busch racing at Dover, only Morgan Shepherd in 1986 won from the pole.

Winston Cup regular Matt Kenseth, a former Dover Busch winner, qualified third in a Ford at 155.622, followed by the Ford of Scott Riggs at 155.615.

Leffler wins truck race

Dover, Del. — Jason Leffler got his first NASCAR truck series victory after dominant teammate Ted Musgrave blew his engine Friday at Dover International Speedway. Musgrave, the defending champion, looked untouchable in the second half of race, but slowed after a puff of smoke came from the rear of his Dodge with 57 laps remaining in the MBNA 200. Leffler, running second, assumed the lead in his Dodge and was never seriously threatened.

Force leads qualifying

Joliet, Ill. — John Force led Funny Car qualifying Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway. Doug Kalitta, Allen Johnson and Angelle Savoie led their categories at the $1.8 million race.