Homestead, Fla. ? Kurt Busch, last in the qualifying line and first in the NASCAR Nextel Cup points, waited out 54 other drivers Friday and then won the pole for the season-ending Ford 400, which will determine the 2004 champion.

Busch goes into Sunday’s race at the front of the closest five-man championship battle in NASCAR history, leading runner-up Jimmie Johnson by just 18 points and with Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Mark Martin all within 82 points of the top spot.

Nascar Points leader Kurt Busch celebrates after winning the pole for Sunday's Ford 400. Busch qualified Friday in Homestead, Fla.

Busch, who isn’t known as a good qualifier, grinned and asked: “Is this Friday? I never knew we could do things like this on Friday.”

It’s the second week in a row that the fourth-year cup driver will start from the top qualifying spot, though last week’s pole was handed to him as the points leader when time trials were rained out at Darlington. This one is the first pole Busch has won on the track since taking the top spot here in November 2002.

Busch turned a lap of 179.319 mph Friday, easily beating the 179.307 of Greg Biffle for the third pole of his career.

While the other contenders qualified among the top 16, Johnson went out early and had a disastrous lap at 175.029. As driver after driver went around the track, Johnson and his No. 48 team watched their position drop lower and lower, finally stopping at 39th, which is where he will start.

Four-time series champion Gordon, Johnson’s teammate and just 21 points behind Busch, will start fifth Sunday, with fourth-place Earnhardt, 72 points out, starting 16th, and Martin, 82 points behind, in the 11th spot.