Greg Biffle’s helicopter would have to break down to allow substitute driver David Reutimann to take advantage of his first Busch Series pole.

Reutimann qualified first Friday in the No. 7 Chevrolet with a lap of 119.766 mph for the Sam’s Town 250 at Memphis Motorsports Park. Under NASCAR rules, Biffle will have to start in last place because he wasn’t the driver who qualified the car.

Biffle missed qualifying here because he was in Martinsville, Va., qualifying for the Winston Cup race. He was scheduled to run in the Busch race today and then go back to Virginia for the Subway 500 Sunday.

Because of the technicality, second-place qualifier, 18-year-old Kyle Busch, who is racing in his fifth Busch race, will start from the pole.

He will be next to Brian Vickers and followed by Bobby Hamilton Jr. and Ron Hornaday Jr. on the second row.

Reutimann, who works as a fabricator at Joe Nemechek’s shop NEMCO Motorsports, hopes his qualifying performance will earn him a full-time ride next season.

“That was never the intention,” Reutimann said about winning the pole. “It’s not the way you’d really like to do things.”

One problem with substitute drivers is that Biffle might drive differently than Reutimann. In addition, qualifying was held under overcast and cool conditions with sun and warmer temperatures forecast for today, which changes the feel of the track.

“If he runs good tomorrow, I’ll take all the credit,” Reutimann said. “If not, I’ll leave early.”

Biffle won last week’s rain-delayed Busch race by nearly 13 seconds at Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

With five races left in the season, the Busch series championship remains up for grabs. This race could make the picture clearer.

Vickers, second in the standings 36 points behind leader David Green, put himself in good position to move up.

“It helps, but it’s not over yet,” Vickers said of his qualifying in third. “I’m not going to say it’s an advantage until the race is over.”

Scott Riggs, third in the standings, qualified 14th.