DARLINGTON, S.C.(AP) -- Jamie McMurray couldn't help smiling after setting a track record Friday at Darlington Raceway to lead qualifying for Saturday night's Southern 500.

Turned out, he was one of the few to leave the track happy.

McMurray made it around the 1.366-mile egg-shaped superspeedway at 180.370 mph to surpass Matt Kenseth's record run from a year ago.

Jeff Gordon was second fastest at 180.323 mph and Brian Vickers was third at 179.987 for the Sprint Cup event.

McMurray came out relatively unblemished on a day when racers spun out and hit the walls in practice and qualifying. Dale Earnhardt Jr. needed a backup car after wrecking on the second lap of practice.

Kyle Busch, the winner at Richmond last week, tagged the wall during his qualifying run, drawing cheers from fans in the stands at Darlington. He'll start 39th.

 

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