Earnhardt Jr claims Atlanta Cup pole

Date published : 06 Mar 2010 - 03:22:12

Dale Earnhardt Jr claimed his first pole position in nearly two years in qualifying for Sunday's Sprint Cup Series race at Atlanta.The Hendrick Motorsports driver laid down a lap of 28.761 seconds at an average speed of 192.761 mph, knocking Kyle Busch off pole by less than a tenth of a second. Despite some top players running later into the session, Earnhardt's time stood unbeaten.NASCAR's most popular driver had last been on pole 68 races ago when he started up front at Texas in April of 2008. "The car was pretty good in practice, but we just needed to get a little bit better," said Earnhardt. "And we just need to hit that perfect lap. There are a lot of cars out there that are fast and able to run good. You've just got to hit the marks and everything and the car was there."Busch will start on Sunday from the front row for the first time this year in his #18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, while Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya qualified third, which will give him his second top-three start of the year after running his trademark high line through the Atlanta banking."Today is the first time in a long time we came in from practice and say 'Oh, this doesn't drive that good.' So we had to work on it a lot today," said Montoya. "It seems like the track slowed down a little so to run that fast is pretty good."Mark Martin, one of four drivers who tested at the track for Goodyear in January, had dominated practice earlier in the day but couldn't quite translate all his pace into qualifying, ending up fourth-fastest ahead of his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Jeff Gordon, who recovered from having poor balance in his car during practice.Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson didn't have a good lap as his car seemed to unsettle through turn two, and he ended up only 16th fastest, while points leader Kevin Harvick qualified poorly down in 35th, slowest of the Richard Childress Racing Chevys.Bobby Labonte was the quickest of the non-guaranteed drivers, while Casey Mears failed to make the field again after suffering an engine failure in practice. Aric Almirola and Terry Cook also failed to qualify.Pos Driver Make Time 1. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 28.761 2. Kyle Busch Toyota 28.833 + 0.072 3. Juan Montoya Chevrolet 28.859 + 0.098 4. Mark Martin Chevrolet 28.903 + 0.142 5. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 28.909 + 0.148 6. Kasey Kahne Ford 28.922 + 0.161 7. Ryan Newman Chevrolet 28.943 + 0.182 8. Elliott Sadler Ford 28.960 + 0.199 9. David Reutimann Toyota 28.998 + 0.23710. Carl Edwards Ford 29.013 + 0.25211. Kurt Busch Dodge 29.018 + 0.25712. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 29.036 + 0.27513. Greg Biffle Ford 29.049 + 0.28814. Matt Kenseth Ford 29.058 + 0.29715. Tony Stewart Chevrolet 29.073 + 0.31216. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 29.081 + 0.32017. David Ragan Ford 29.091 + 0.33018. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 29.093 + 0.33219. Martin Truex Jr Toyota 29.095 + 0.33420. Denny Hamlin Toyota 29.114 + 0.35321. Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 29.138 + 0.37722. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 29.145 + 0.38423. Paul Menard Ford 29.181 + 0.42024. Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 29.192 + 0.43125. A.J. Allmendinger Ford 29.201 + 0.44026. Brian Vickers Toyota 29.210 + 0.44927. Dave Blaney Toyota 29.242 + 0.48128. Brad Keselowski Dodge 29.245 + 0.48429. Joey Logano Toyota 29.304 + 0.54330. Mike Bliss Chevrolet 29.311 + 0.55031. Max Papis Toyota 29.316 + 0.55532. Scott Speed Toyota 29.321 + 0.56033. Joe Nemechek Toyota 29.324 + 0.56334. Bill Elliott Ford 29.330 + 0.56935. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 29.331 + 0.57036. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 29.338 + 0.57737. David Gilliland Ford 29.436 + 0.67538. Regan Smith Chevrolet 29.496 + 0.73539. Robby Gordon Toyota 29.742 + 0.98140. Travis Kvapil Ford 29.898 + 1.13741. Kevin Conway Ford 29.998 + 1.23742. Boris Said Ford 30.309 + 1.54843. Michael McDowell Toyota 29.371 + 0.610