Mayfield, Best Buy Chevy Starts 41st at Atlanta

HAMPTON, GA. (Oct. 27) – Jeremy Mayfield and the No. 66 Best Buy Chevrolet team will start 41st in Sunday’s Pep Boys 500 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

During qualifying on Friday evening, Mayfield turned a lap of 29.817 seconds, at an average speed of 185.934 miles per hour and had to take a provisional starting position in his debut race in the No. 66 entry.

“The car turned better than it had all day,” Mayfield said. “I held the throttle wide open almost all the way around the track, so I was very surprised we didn’t post a better time. Harold (Holly, crew chief) and I are getting our comfort level and learning how to speak each others’ language in terms of the car setup, so once we have a few practices under our belt, I think you’ll see some real improvement. We’ll get the car dialed in for the race, and I think we can have a good day Sunday.”

The pole position went to Greg Biffle (No. 16 Lumber Liquidators Ford), with a lap of 28.807 seconds at an average speed of 192.453 miles per hour. The second through fifth starting positions were claimed by Kurt Busch (No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge), Dale Jarrett (No. 44 UPS Toyota), Kasey Kahne (No. 9 UAW / Dodge Dealers Dodge) and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (No. 8 Budweiser Chevy). Busch was the highest qualifier of the 12 drivers competing in the Chase for the Championship, while points leader Jeff Gordon starts eighth and Jimmie Johnson, who trails Gordon by 53 points with four races remaining in the season, will roll off sixth.

The Pep Boys 500 will air live on Sunday, Oct. 28, beginning at 1:30 p.m. on ABC and PRN Radio affiliates.