DARLINGTON, S.C.—It was clear during Thursday’s practice sessions that the qualifying track record established by South Boston’s Ward Burton in 1996 would fall early during today’s qualifying at Darlington Raceway.

In fact, the first driver on the track eclipsed Burton’s mark of 173.797 mph. David Reutimann toured the 1.366-mile racetrack with a speed of 176.125. That number paled in comparison to the 179.651 put up by former Chesterfield resident Denny Hamlin during today’s final practice for tomorrow night’s Dodge Challenger 500.

Reutimann kept dropping down the speed charts like a bad record. Greg Biffle, a two-time winner here, post a 179.442, just shy of Hamlin’s practice effort. But he won the pole with a record qualifying speed of 179.442 mph.

A number of drivers weren’t sure what to expect during qualifying. But they were certain they wouldn’t have a problem generating speed—and plenty of it.

“The track is really fast,” said Kevin Harvick. “It’s really smooth. It’s going to be tough to make it all right this time and that’s probably not a fair situation to be in. But there’s nothing you can really do about it because you got to repave the racetrack in order to keep stuff from flying out of it.”

So far, a fast, slick track has gotten the measure of several drivers—including Hamlin and two-time defending Sprint Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, who for the first time in his career crashed twice during practice. He used a back-up chassis during the final practice run and his crew had to hammer out the dents before he qualified third with a speed of 179.206 mph.

“I almost hit the wall, so when I was trying to pull it off the wall over here I just kind of spun it out to miss the wall, and I just brushed the inside of the wall” said Johnson, a two-time winner here. “But it’s just some cosmetic stuff, so we’re cool.

“I just barely grazed [the splitter], so the splitter must have caught on something. But we won’t go to another back-up. We’ll be using that car and we’ll be fine.”

Hamlin had a shot at winning the Nationwide pole earlier this afternoon. But the Manchester High School graduate put his car into the wall. He damaged his ride enough that he couldn’t complete his qualiyfing run, and he was forced to sit out tonight’s Diamond Hill Plywood 200.

Hamlin expects tomorrow Dodge Challenger 500 to be an unpredictable race, in part, because no one knows exactly what to expect on a track that is likely toi change some after tonight’s Nationwide race.

“Right now, it’s definitely going to be a situation where when guys get close to each other their cars are really going to get edgy. So, we’ll just have to see how it plays out.

Greg Biffle, a two-time winner here, post a 179.442, just shy of Hamlin’s practice effort. But there’s plenty of time and even faster cars still lined up to bump Biffle from the pole.

Dale Earnhardt, who is trying to snap a 72-race winless streak, qualified second. Tony Stewart was fouth quickest, followed by Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Emporia’s Elliott Sadler. Hamlin qualified 21st while South Boston’s Jeff Burton will start 12th.