Sports, Ink

Hello from Watkins Glen International, where NASCAR is making its annual visit.

This afternoon we'll have qualifying for the Sprint Cup is the big thing today, and that will be starting at 3:10 p.m.

We'll be having a live chat at 2:15 p.m.

1:48 p.m. Kurt Busch was fastest in the Sprint Cup's first practice session with a lap of 70.922 seconds (124.362 mph). Denny Hamlin was second, followed by Kevin Harvick, Kyle Busch and Casey Mears.

2:16 p.m. We pushed our live chat back 15 minutes since Mr. Jerry Sullivan is "on the air" right now.

3:12 p.m. Just completed the chat, and the Sprint Cup cars are on the track for qualifying.

A moment ago, a short press conference was held to unveil a painting by motorsports artist Sam Bass which has been reproduced as this weekend's event poster. Bass was asked about the incident earlier this year in Nashville in which a guitar he painted was smashed to bits by Kyle Busch after Busch won a Nationwide race.

Bass, as detailed in this story, again handled the question with class. He said people want to "set up some sort of celebrity deathmatch" between the two, but Bass has received so much publicity about the incident he's been astounded.

3:21 p.m. An update on the Nationwide Series -- the first Zippo 200 practice has Kyle Busch (73.371 seconds; 120.211 mph), Denny Hamlin, RobbyGordon, Greg Biffle, Kevin Harvick and Joey Logano leading the way.

3:32 p.m. Kyle Busch seemed to nearly lose his No. 18 car coming out of the Inner Loop that interrupts the backstretch, but he put up a lap that is second after eight drivers. Busch can flat-out drive.

3:55 p.m. Jimmie Johnson, Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Marcos Ambrose and Kyle Busch are the top five as we're through 16 drivers. A total of 47 will attempt to qualify for the 43-car field, including Max Papis in the No. 13 Toyota which has Lockport natives Mike Hillman Sr. and Jr. leading the team.

A total of 11 drivers are listed as being required to qualify on time. In addition to Papis, they are familiar faces Ron Fellows and Boris Said, veterans Joe Nemechek and Dave Blaney as well as Brian Simo, Scott Speed, David Gilliland, P.J. Jones, Andy Lally and Tony Ave.

4:03 p.m. Qualifying update: David Stremme is fifth; Ryan Newman sixth; Kyle Busch seventh.

4:20 p.m. Sam Hornish locked up the brakes and got a little grass time on his lap and is 24th of 25 cars at the moment.

4:35 p.m. Greg Biffle posted a nice lap and is in the seventh spot, bumping Busch to eighth.

4:44 p.m. Tony Stewart, who had the 34th-best practice lap earlier, is currently in the 12th spot.

4:48 p.m. Jeff Gordon 27th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 28th, Carl Edwards at 29th. Yikes.

4:57 p.m. The go-or-go-home guys are taking their turns now.

5:08 p.m. Max Papis, driving for the Germain Racing team full of the Hillman family of Lockport (read more about them in Larry Ott's story in Saturday's paper), put down a strong lap and will make the race. Andy Lally will be the first New Yorker in the race in a long time after also runnig a strong lap -- both he and Papis should be in the top 20. Boris Said has posted the ninth-best lap while Ron Fellows may have been holding his breath for a moment -- he just was guaranteed a spot in the field when other cars couldn't match his time. Fellows will start towards the back of the pack, however.

5:17 p.m. Scott Speed is the final driver on the course; he's trying to knock Joe Nemechek out and make the race. David Gilliland and Brian Simo are on the outside looking in.

5:19 p.m. Speed makes it in 26th position, bumping Nemechek out. The field is set, led by Jimmie Johnson on the pole. The starting line up is at NASCAR.com.

Here's some phone video of Johnson talking about the portion of the track known as "the Esses."

5:50 p.m. The top three qualifiers have done their turns in the media room. The Nationwide cars are on the track, and Jason Leffler went for an awful hard crash -- apparently he is OK after being released from the infield care center. I'll be doing some writing for a while.  

9:10 p.m. Stories have been filed for the paper and will be up on the Web shortly. Small note -- Ron Fellows had the best time in the second Nationwide practice, followed by Marcos Ambrose, Robby Gordon and Carl Edwards.

9:23 p.m. Here's my main story on Johnson winning the pole while here's Larry Ott's story that leads off with the Hillman family of Lockport making Sunday's race. Good night and see you back here tomorrow.

---Keith McShea