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Sunday, September 30, 2001

By The Associated Press

INDIANAPOLIS -- Michael Schumacher never doubted he could win the pole yesterday.

Not even after being bumped from the No. 1 position twice in qualifying for today's United States Grand Prix.

With each successive lap, Schumacher found more speed. When he took his final laps around the 2.606-mile road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, his 1:11.708 was more than two-tenths of a second faster than that of Mika Hakkinen.

"I was confident I wouldn't be beaten," said Schumacher, who immediately parked his car. "I was confident that I could not improve."

Schumacher's speed of 130.769 mph was more than 4 mph faster than last year's pole-winning run of 126.265, but it's been that kind of season. It was his 10th pole of the season and 42nd of his career.

Schumacher and Hakkinen, winners of the past four titles, clearly had the two fastest cars throughout practice this week. So when the two-man duel began with about 22 minutes left in qualifying, it was no surprise.

Schumacher's brother, Ralf, qualified third in 1:11.986. Ralf Schumacher, driving for Williams, bumped his brother off the pole -- for two minutes -- to ignite the duel.

Green closes on Harvick

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Jeff Green elected not to pit during a late caution yesterday, and the gamble paid off with a win in the inaugural Mr. Goodcents 300 at Kansas Speedway.

It was his second consecutive Busch series win and fourth of the season.

Green's No. 10 Ford began smoking in the third turn of the final lap, but he was able to nurse it across the finish line. Then it quit on him entirely while he was smoking his tires in celebration.

Green finished 2.129 seconds ahead of Hank Parker Jr.'s Chevrolet on the new 1 1/2-mile tri-oval. Greg Biffle finished third, followed by Matt Kenseth, Jason Keller and Jimmie Johnson.

Record-setting runs

JOLIET, Ill. -- Whit Bazemore, Kurt Johnson and Mike Coughlin turned in record-setting runs in qualifying for the inaugural NHRA Nationals.

Bazemore had the quickest Funny Car run in NHRA history with a quarter-mile pass of time of 4.750 seconds at 323.27 mph. John Force clocked a career-best elapsed time of 4.756 seconds to take the second spot.

Johnson set a record in Pro Stock qualifying with a 6.801 at 202.70, and Coughlin's 7.379 at 182.65 was a Pro Stock Truck record.

Mike Dunn also led Top Fuel at 4.511 at 326.95.