[SATURDAY 10:02 am ET]
A VERY SPEEDY EVENING – Some of the fastest speeds in the history of the Bojangles' Southern 500 will be recorded tonight in the 64th running of one of NASCAR's most storied races. Kurt Busch won the pole for the race Friday with a blistering track-record speed of 181.918 miles per hour, qualifying almost a mile per hour faster than second-place Jimmie Johnson (180.974).
The 367-lap race is scheduled for a 6:45 p.m. ET green flag.
After drivers and teams suffered through a miserable weather weekend at Talladega Superspeedway, tonight's forecast calls for race-time temperatures in the low 80s with a 30 percent chance of thunderstorms in the speedway area.
Also starting in the top 10 will be Kyle Busch, Kasey Kahne, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth, Jeff Gordon, Greg Biffle and Kevin Harvick.
SPEED will present NASCAR RaceDay at 4 p.m. ET.
Mike Hembree is NASCAR Editor for SPEED.com and has been covering motorsports for 31 years. He is a six-time winner of the National Motorsports Press Association Writer of the Year Award.
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