Local hero Patrick Carpentier captured the pole for Saturday afternoon’s NAPA Auto Parts 200 at the Circuit Gilles Villenueve in Montreal, Canada. The No.22 Armando Fitz Dodge circled the 2.710-mile road course in one minute, 42.086 seconds (95.531 m.p.h.). The pole victory was the first of Carpentier’s Busch Series career in his first start.

“If I would have read in a book about a perfect race at a perfect time and perfect timing with NASCAR, it couldn’t be better than this,” said Carpentier.

Starting alongside the Canadian will be another fan favorite “Mad” Max Papis who posted a second-best time of 1:42.148 seconds. Three-time Watkins Glen winner Ron Fellows (1:02.419) and Boris Said (1:02.424) will make up row two. The top-four drivers could all be called “road-course specialists” and the first Busch Series regular is Marcos Ambrose, starting fifth.

Of course, points leader Carl Edwards, starting 15th, leads the usual NASCAR suspects across the border. He continues to dominate the series holding an 852-point lead after another top-five finish last week at O’Reilly Raceway Park. It was his 13th top-five (including four wins) in 22 starts.

Other Busch Series regulars who crossed the border include last week’s winner Jason Leffler, David Ragan, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Stephen Leicht and Ambrose.

The race is scheduled to drop the green flag at 3:30 p.m. (et).

Canada.com