Bruno Junqueira sneaked in his fast time late in the session yesterday to swipe the pole from A.J. Allmendinger for the Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland by eight-thousandths of a second.

Junqueira earned his first pole of the season by lapping the road course at Portland International Raceway in Oregon in 57.631 seconds at 122.684 mph in second-round qualifying.

The Brazilian, who missed nearly all of last season with a broken back after a terrifying accident at the Indianapolis 500, has not won a pole since Long Beach in 2004.

Allmendinger, who had the provisional pole Friday, had returned to the pits when Junqueira turned in his pole-winning run on his second-to-last lap.

Allmendinger had the second-best lap at 57.639 seconds (122.667 mph) and will have the other front-row spot for the race today. Two-time defending series champion Sebastien Bourdais lapped the course in 57.646 seconds (122.652 mph).

All three put in their fast laps on their alternate tires, which are softer and grip better.

Truck Series

Johnny Benson finally broke through with a victory in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, holding off a challenge from Mark Martin in a two-lap, overtime shootout at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Mich.

Martin, the Nextel Cup star who has won three of six previous truck starts this season in a part-time ride, appeared stronger on long green-flag runs. But Benson, driving a Toyota Tundra for Bill Davis Racing, got a break when four of the eight caution flags in the 102-lap event waved in the final 28 trips around the 2-mile oval.

It looked as if Martin, who plans to retire from Cup racing after this season and run trucks full time in 2007, was going to catch Benson after a restart on lap 93. But Martin Truex Jr. cut short that green flag run, spinning out with a flat tire on lap 97. He collided with Kerry Earnhardt, bringing out the final caution.

The race was scheduled to end on lap 100, but the late caution set up the dramatic two-lap, green-white-checker finish that began on lap 101. Martin did what he could, but Benson easily held off the No. 6 Ford F-150, winning by 0.112 seconds -- about two truck-lengths.

NHRA

Brandon Bernstein led Top Fuel qualifying for the 10th time in his career, topping the field in the K&N Filters Supernationals in Englishtown, N.J., with a quarter-mile run of 4.534 seconds at 329.50 mph. Long Island City driver Tony Bartone topped the Funny Car field, and Allen Johnson (Pro Stock) and Chip Ellis (Pro Stock Motorcycle) also led their divisions. Ellis' 6.997-second pass was just the fourth six-second Pro Stock Motorcycle run in NHRA history.

Le Mans

Audi and Pescarolo Judd were dominating the Le Mans 24 Hour endurance race in France as night fell. Three-time winner Frank Biela of Germany was leading the race in his Audi R10 No. 8 with 113 laps at midnight, with Eric Helary of France in second in his Pescarolo Judd No. 17, two laps behind. Alex Yoong of Malaysia, driving for Dome Judd, was third, four laps behind the leader.