Mark Martin took out two weeks of stress Friday on North Carolina Motor Speedway's 1.017-mile oval.
"An awful lot of bottled up frustration was unleashed today for me," Martin said after sweeping the pole for both Saturday's Goodwrench 200 Busch Grand National race and Sunday's featured Goodwrench 400 Winston Cup event.
"I took a lot of whoopins in the races leading up to the (Daytona) 500," he explained. "Our Winston Cup car had a speed deficit until the big race when we found the right combination in the draft."
Martin's frustration began to dissipate during Sunday's Daytona 500, when he led 30 laps and finished seventh despite a loose lug nut problem on his last scheduled pit visit that forced him to make an extra stop.
It disappeared entirely Friday as he grabbed the Busch pole with a lap of 151.264 mph and, less than two hours later, took the Winston Cup pole with a record-smashing lap of 157.885 that even Martin admitted was exciting.
"The Busch pole was normal," Martin said. ``The Winston Cup deal was something that felt spectacular.
"I'll tell you about the lap," he added. ``I drove it in deeper than I should've, and it stuck and I slammed (the accelerator) to the floor. The car came off turn two running what felt like 250 miles per hour. I knew that if I didn't wreck, I would sit on the pole because it didn't matter what I did in (turns) three and four at that point.
"I didn't drive as hard in three and four and take as many chances. I could have cruised quite a bit more and still been OK. My knees were a little shaky when I got out of the car, but I had a smile on my face."
The lap broke the track record of 157.620, set in 1995 by Jeff Gordon on what was then a newly repaved oval.
This was the 33rd pole of Martin's Winston Cup career and his third at Rockingham.
Martin gave a lot of credit for his strong showing to his Roush Racing team, and notably new crew chief Jimmy Fennig, who once worked with Martin in the American Speed Association.
"Jimmy Fennig has been able to bring some fresh, new ideas to our program," Martin said. "And, because Jimmy is here now, it's given (former crew chief and now general manager) Steve Hmiel a chance to concentrate his efforts on some things he didn't have time for before. It's a much smoother operation."
Bobby Labonte will start his Pontiac Grand Prix on the outside of the front row Sunday after qualifying at 156.495.
Dale Jarrett was next at 156.475 in a Ford, followed by the Chevrolet of Daytona 500 winner Gordon at 156.166, the Ford of Geoff Bodine at 156.048 and the Chevys of Ken Schrader at 155.928, Steve Grissom at 155.875 and Ricky Craven at 155.743.
Rounding out the top 10 were the Thunderbirds of Brett Bodine at 155.544 and Ricky Rudd at 155.518.
Mike Skinner, the pole-winner at Daytona, was 12th, while defending series champion Terry Labonte, Gordon and Craven's teammate and the runner-up at Daytona, was 15th.
The top 25 starting positions were locked in Friday, with the rest of the 42-car field to be determined Saturday in further time trials.
Among the drivers who can either stand on their first-round speed or try to improve upon it were defending race winner Dale Earnhardt, who was 27th, Jarrett's teammate Ernie Irvan, 32nd, Sterling Marlin, 35th, Bill Elliott, 37th, and Michael Waltrip, 45th. All of those drivers ran well in last Sunday's Daytona 500.
