ROCKINGHAM, North Carolina (Ticker) -- Once again NASCAR veteran Mark Martin showed his dominance at "The Rock."

Martin, the all-time leading race winner in the Busch series with 40 carreer wins, today claimed the pole for the Alltel 200 at North Carolina Speedway. This will be the first of a 14-race schedule to mark the end of his regular involvement in the series.

Martin, the runner-up in this race last year, set a qualifying record at the one-mile track of 23.715 seconds with a speed of 154.283 miles per hour. The first nine qualifiers topped the old record of 152.119 held by David Green since October 1994.

Martin picked up his fifth pole -- two more than any other driver -- at Rockingham since 1989 and 24th of his Busch career, moving into a tie with Sam Ard for second-most in series history.

He has 10 wins at Rockingham, winning this race from the pole in 1997 and 1996.

Green negotiated his Chevrolet Monte Carlo to a second-position start with a speed of 153.169 mph, just ahead of his brother, Jeff, also in a Chevrolet. Defending champion Jeff Burton was fourth in a Ford with a speed of 152.907 mph and Casey Atwood rounded the top five positions in his Chevrolet.

Matt Kenseth, who posted his eighth career victory last Saturday in the season opener at Daytona, qualified 28th.

Notables who failed to qualify for this event included Mike Skinner, Ward Burton and Hut Stricklin.

The race is scheduled to cover 197 laps with the green flag dropping at 1:00 p.m. EST. Posted awards exceed $640,000.

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