Kahne, Montoya Start Out Front at Bristol

I don't think I could ever pick Kasey Kahne to win at Bristol after seeing him crash out of his first Nextel Cup race at the track during his rookie season. Needless to say, Kahne was so shook up from the experience that he was literally shaking on camera.

Friday night, though, he apparently found a good way to calm down.

Kahne won the pole for Saturday night's Sharpie 500 at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway with a lap of 16.016 seconds, or 119.805 mph.

Juan Pablo Montoya will line up on his outside with Jamie McMurray, David Ragan and Dave Blaney rounding out the top-5. Virginia-native Ward Burton dropped a nice lap and will start 14th.

Bristol just got a facelift over the summer with a brand-new concrete repaving job, and it really set back the lap times at the track. Jeff Gordon won the pole at BMS in April with a lap 125.453 mph in the first Car of Tomorrow race, obviously much quicker than Kahne's lap.

Slower speeds, though, could add up to better race Saturday night with more side-by-side racing because cars are more even.

As if Bristol really needs to get any better though.