ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- For one, it was more of the same. For the other, it was likely the start of many more to come.

And in the big picture, it could be a 1-2 tandem we're going to see a lot more of in the coming seasons.

Such were the interwoven tales sewn in Friday's Winston Cup and Busch Series qualifying action at North Carolina Speedway.

Ryan Newman continued to be the most dominant driver performance-wise in Winston Cup, earning his 11th pole position of the season as a prelude to Sunday's Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400, not to mention making a statement that he still may have another win or two left inside him to add to his series-best eight triumphs so far this season.

"To me, winning 11 poles in a season means a lot from a driver's standpoint," Newman said. "It ties second for all-time most poles in a season (tying him with Bobby Allison in 1972, David Pearson in 1974, Darrell Waltrip in 1981 and Bill Elliott in 1985). To me, that's a great feat. There's definitely a lot of great drivers in that category."

Newman earned his 18th career Winston Cup pole, and his second at NCS with a fast lap of 23.533 seconds at 155.577 mph, just less than .400 of a second off the track record of 23.167 seconds at 158.035 mph set by teammate Rusty Wallace in Feb. 2000.

"Qualifying to me is no different than the race itself," Newman said. "I can wheel the car and I do a good job doing it. The guys do a good job setting up the car. We've got to have a good engine. You put it all together and you get great results. I think that's what it's all about. It's not just me and (crew chief) Matt (Borland). It's everybody on the team."

And then there was young Brian Vickers. Having turned 20 just two weeks ago, Vickers not only earned his second consecutive outside pole in his first four Cup starts (23.544 seconds -- just .011 of a second behind Newman's mark -- at 155.505 mph), he also grabbed his first career Busch Series pole for Saturday's Target House 200, holding off last season's Busch Series champ, Greg Biffle.

"I'm real excited about having the pole," Vickers said. "I've fought hard and long the last couple of years and to finally get one is pretty neat. And to end up on the (outside) pole (next to Newman) is neat."

Vickers held the provisional Cup pole until Newman's last-minute effort. What made his feat more unique is that he elected to make just a one-lap qualifying attempt, rather than the traditional two-lap try.

"It was about all the car had in her, so I shut her down and coasted on in," Vickers said. "You just try to get as much as you can out of that first lap because the tires may only last one lap. The car was a little free in, but it was fast. It was a hold-your-breath lap."

While the Winston Cup championship will likely be wrapped up by Matt Kenseth in Sunday's race, the Busch Series chase is another story, with Vickers playing one of the leading roles, as just 60 points separate the top five drivers: current points leader Scott Riggs (4,373), Ron Hornaday (4,356), Vickers (4,352), David Green (4,351) and Jason Keller (4,313).

"There are two races left and none of the teams competing for this year's title can afford to have any bad luck. Any way you cut it, the championship is not going to be determined until after the final race in Miami. The points battle cannot be won right now, but it can easily be lost, and I think you'll see things get real interesting during the last two races."

Despite his youth, Vickers is definitely not short on confidence. He had the Cup pole until Newman went out for his late qualifying effort, the last driver in line.

"I thought I might get the Cup pole here," Vickers said. "This team has done an awesome job in qualifying the last couple of weeks. We've had such good qualifying efforts that I was really beginning to wonder which one (a Busch or Cup pole) I would get first. It seemed like I've come so close so many times in Busch, but something always seems to happen. Somebody seems to bump me off by just a couple thousandths of a second.

"But I'm glad to get a Busch pole because these are my last two races in that series for now, and now I'd just like to capture one in Cup."

At the rate he's going, is next week too soon? Of course, Newman might have a thing or two to say about that.

"He's the man to beat on poles," Vickers said of Newman. "I'm very fortunate to get a pole in Busch and second in Cup today. Hopefully, one day we'll get one of those, too."

Newman added in response, "Brian is doing a great job. I told everybody that last week (at Phoenix). He's obviously a talented young individual who's doing great things."

Jerry Bonkowski covers NASCAR for ESPN.com. He can be reached at Motorsportwriter@MSN.com.