Darlington normally isn't a place Winston Cup driver's relish when it comes to qualifying.  The high speeds on the egg-shaped oval make it the most difficult lap of the season.

On Friday, near 100-degree heat made the "track too tough to tame" even more slippery and that spelled big trouble.  About a half dozen Busch cars crashed during a qualifying session that immediately preceded the Winston Cup qualifying.  A few Cup drivers did the same thing.

With that knowledge #10 Valvoline Pontiac driver Johnny Benson went out ninth of the 44 cars in Darlington and still stood on the throttle turning in a very fast lap.

"We made it through one and two pretty good, and I was a little concerned about three and four but it was pretty good also, Benson said. "We came out OK. It beats flattening the right side of the car like a lot of people did in the Busch Series today."

Benson will start 11th for the final 500-mile race on Labor Day weekend at Darlington. Next year this race moves to November with a second California race taking the Labor Day date.

"We wanted to qualify well here this weekend and I think we did that," Benson said. "Lately we have raced a lot better than we have qualified so I'm pretty optimistic about Sunday. It's a very long race where survival will be the key. The heat won't help but I think we will be fine."

Ryan Newman won the pole with Jimmie Johnson on the outside of the front row.

Darlington Starting Lineup

1. Newman

2. Johnson

3. T. Labonte

4. E. Sadler

5. B. Labonte

6. Kenseth

7. Martin

8. Craven

9. Biffle

10. Blaney

11. Benson

12. Earnhardt

13. Marlin

14. Gordon

15.Skinner

16Skinner

17. McMurray

18. Harvick

19. Jarrett

20. Stewart

21. Mears

22. Elliott

23. Fittipaldi

24. K. Wallace

25. R.Gordon

26. Nemechek

27. Bodine

28. Burton

29. Burton

30. Rudd

31. Busch

32. Park

33. Raines

34. R.Wallace

35. Green

36. Leffler

37Waltrip

38 Spencer

39 Schrader

40 Petty

41 Lepage

42 Cope

43H. Sadler

Missed Race

Foyt