Last gasp Craven snatches it.

Ricky Craven snatched pole position away from Bill Elliott at the last possible moment in Friday's Bud Pole Qualifying at the Michigan International Speedway and the No.32 Tide PPI Motorsports Ford Taurus will start from top spot for the very first time in Sunday's Pepsi 400 Presented by Meijer.

With less than a minute of Bud Pole qualifying remaining at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway, seven time Michigan pole-winner Bill Elliott looked like a sure fire bet to win his first pole at Michigan since 1988 and his second of the year for Ray Evernham's Dodge team. Elliott, who has taken the race-winners laurels no less than seven times at Michigan, had set a best lap of 38.327-seconds as the seventh of 45 cars off pit road and had seen off challenges from Ricky Rudd, Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Rusty Wallace and Dale Earnhardt Jr among others en-route to what appeared to be his 51st career Winston Cup pole position.

Then Ricky Craven, who drew number 45 in the qualifying draw, ran his qualifying lap.

Drivers were allowed two flying laps as has largely been the norm this year but Craven needed only one in his bright Tide sponsored PPI Motorsports Ford as he ripped off a 38.272-second lap on his first flyer to claim his fourth career pole position and his first since 1998 when he was a member of the Hendrick Motorsports stable.

Craven and the PPI team have been frustratingly inconsistent throughout the year, occasionally showing flashes of brilliance but more often than not struggling with poor luck, mechanical problems and a less than perfect set-up. On Friday however everything clicked and Craven became the 13th different driver to win the Bud Pole in 2001 and book his place in the Bud Shootout at Daytona next spring.

Despite the obvious disappointment, Elliott will start from the outside of row one on a track where the Dodge's are really expected to benefit from their two-inch spoiler extension giving 'Awesome Bill' his best shot at scoring his first win since 1994.

Ricky Rudd, the last man to put a Tide sponsored car on pole position at Rockingham in 1999, lapped the D-shaped oval in a best time of 38.393-seconds to claim third spot as he bids to go one better than he did here in June when Jeff Gordon beat him to the line on the final lap by inches. Joining Rudd on row two will be the surprising Elliott Sadler who posted his best MIS qualifying effort in the Wood Brothers Ford.

John Andretti, the 44th man to qualify, and Casey Atwood in the second Ray Evernham entry, made it three Dodges and three Fords in the top six while Michael Waltrip was left to lead the Chevrolet brigade in seventh spot with a best lap of 38.489-seconds, an agonising two tenths slower than Craven.

Another major surprise was Hut Stricklin's eighth place qualifying effort, proof that his sixth place outing for the Junie Donlavey team here in June was no fluke and Hut proudly held pole position for a short while with the No.90 machine as he gave the team their best qualifying result in ages.

Joe Gibbs team-mates Bobby Labonte and Tony Stewart completed the top ten respectively while Jason Leffler responded to the news that his sponsor, Cingular Wireless, would be joining the No.31 Richard Childress operation currently backed by Lowe's, by setting a seasons best eleventh fastest time.

Nearly all of the big guns are well placed with Dale Earnhardt Jr starting twelfth, Jeff Gordon 13th for the second week running, Rusty Wallace 14th, Sterling Marlin 15th, Jeff Burton 16th and Dale Jarrett 17th while Mike Skinner placed the No.31 RCR Chevrolet which he will not drive in 2002 19th on his return from injury.

At the lower end of the 43 car grid, Andy Houston thankfully qualified the second PPI entry in 29th place on one of his last appearances for Cal Wells' team while Jerry Nadeau slapped the turn two wall on his second qualifying lap as he set 31st fastest time. Mike Wallace, Ron Hornaday and Kyle Petty, all without provisionals scraped into the starting field in 32nd, 34th and 36th places respectively while Rick Mast claimed the final provisional starting slot for the second week running despite having a slower time than David Keith and Buckshot Jones, the days two non-qualifiers.