RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – Impressive rookie Kasey Kahne started what he hopes will be an uplifting weekend Thursday night, winning his first pole of the season in 22 tries in NASCAR’s Busch Series.

Kahne, 24, a five-time runner-up in the Nextel Cup series this season, turned a lap at 127.678 mph on the three-quarter-mile Richmond International Raceway, edging Kyle Busch for the top position.

Kahne is hoping it’s only the start at Richmond, where Friday night’s Emerson 250 is just a warmup for Saturday night’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400.

Kahne will start that Nextel Cup race ninth in the points, trying to stay in the top 10 and keep his spot in the sport’s 10-race playoff.

“Getting the pole is definitely a big deal to me,” he said. “If it will help our Cup race on Saturday – it wouldn’t hurt it. I think it will help a little bit with what the track does. I’ll know that.”

Busch, meantime, has his own points goal – closing a 95-point deficit to Busch leader Martin Truex Jr. in the series’ last nine races.

Busch got off to a good start with a lap at 127.179 mph.

“We didn’t quite get it the way we needed to to have a pole-winning run,” Busch said. “That’s all right. Kasey Kahne, he ran an awesome lap. I didn’t think we were going to be able to beat him anyway.”

Truex will start seventh, only three rows behind.

“It’s nice to outqualify your main competition, but I just kind of go about it every week the same way,” Busch said. “We’ve got to do our job.

“We can’t really worry about (Truex) because if we do, we’re probably just hurting ourselves instead of helping ourselves.”

Busch won here in the spring and will drive the same car Friday night in the Emerson 250, the third of four races here this weekend. The first two were Thursday night: the third in the International Race of Champions series, followed by the Kroger 200 Craftsman Trucks Series race.

Robby Gordon qualified third for the Busch race.

, followed by Ashton Lewis Jr. and Kevin Harvick, the first four of six consecutive Chevrolets behind Kahne’s Dodge. Sixth was Mike Bliss, followed by Truex.

Defending champion Johnny Sauter, who raised eyebrows last year when he drove Matt Kenseth into the wall in the final lap, qualified 18th.

Eleven other drivers failed to qualify.

AP-ES-09-09-04 1939EDT