Auto Racing | Greg Biffle captures Cup pole at Dover

DOVER, Del. — Greg Biffle took the pole. Kyle Busch took the heat.

Biffle, of Vancouver, Wash., held off the Busch brothers, turning a lap of 155.219 mph on Friday at Dover International Speedway to take the top spot and bolster his bid to drive the No. 16 Ford to his first victory of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season.

Kurt Busch was second at 153.971, and points leader Kyle Busch was third at 153.767 on the 1-mile concrete track.

Kyle Busch has proved he can succeed in any level and is having a fantastic overall season. He leads the Cup series by 94 points over Jeff Burton and won a combined nine times this season in the Cup, Nationwide and Craftsman Truck Series. What bothers some drivers in the Cup series is Busch's sometimes obnoxious attitude.

The latest run-in for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver came last week in a postrace confrontation with four-time Cup champion Jeff Gordon. He chased down Gordon after the Coca-Cola 600 and got in his face. His gripe? That Gordon raced him too hard while fighting for position down the stretch. Busch finished third; Gordon fourth.

Gordon accused his former teammate of being bitter over his parting with the Hendrick Motorsports team. Busch said Friday he simply overreacted and should have reached out to Gordon via other methods.

But Kevin Harvick called out Busch and said he showed a lack of respect to the veterans. Harvick said Busch was talented, but doesn't yet have the maturity to go along with his considerable skill.

"At some point, all that disrespect comes back because no matter how good you're doing, you're not going to be good forever," he said.

Busch has become NASCAR's newest "villain," whether he likes it or not.

"I guess there have been villains over the years, so if that's their word that they're going to call it, then that's what it is," Busch said. "It doesn't bother me. I don't feel like that's who I am. But I guess that's the role I'm portraying."

Patrick still angry

WEST ALLIS, Wis. — Danica Patrick isn't apologizing to Ryan Briscoe or anyone else.

Even with nearly a week to cool down since Briscoe hit her car on pit road last Sunday, ending her quest for an Indianapolis 500 victory, Patrick hasn't changed her tune about the incident or her angry, aborted march toward Briscoe's pit stall.

"I don't regret those things," Patrick said Friday at the Milwaukee Mile, where she and the rest of the IRL IndyCar Series drivers will get back on track over the weekend.

The suburban Milwaukee track is also where Patrick had a brief pit road confrontation with Dan Wheldon a year ago following an on-track incident during the race.

"You know, adrenaline's pumping," she said of the postrace blowups. "That usually lasts after every weekend, after every time you're on the track in race situation, for an hour or two after. Your adrenaline's up. You're thinking about it, talking, sort of debriefing the whole thing. That's the same pretty much every weekend."

Notes

• Scott Speed made it three straight first-time winners in the Craftsman Truck Series, pulling away to win the AAA Insurance 200 at Dover International Speedway in just his sixth career start.