Jeff Gordon won his first pole since one
year ago after posting the quickest lap in Friday's qualifying for the Dickies
500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Gordon, currently third in points, lapped the 1.5-mile oval at 191.117 m.p.h.
(28.255 seconds) for his 68th career Sprint Cup Series pole, but his first
since last year's fall race at Texas.
"What a lap," said Gordon, who has won a pole in 17 consecutive seasons. "I
wasn't sure if it was good enough, but I'm sure proud it held up."
Gordon is one pole away from tying Cale Yarborough for third on the all-time
pole winners list. He also is one victory away from equaling Yarborough for
fifth on the all-time race winners chart. Gordon's 82nd and most recent Cup
win came at Texas earlier this year.
"We have a lot of confidence, especially qualifying up front," Gordon added.
"We got a lot of work ahead of us, and we'll be going to work [Saturday]."
Kasey Kahne will start alongside Gordon on the front row after turning a lap
at 190.975 m.p.h.
"It was a really good lap," Kahne said. "Everything was perfect there. I felt
like I was really quick in [turns] one and two and might of given up just a
touch in turns three and four."
Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.
Carl Edwards, the defending race winner, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Dale
Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer completed the top-10.
Jimmie Johnson will start 12th. Johnson, who is looking to win his
unprecedented fourth straight Cup championship, holds a 184-point lead over
Martin and a 192-point advantage over Gordon with three races remaining.
Brad Keselowski qualified 35th in his first start as driver of the No.12 Dodge
for Penske Racing. Keselowski is replacing David Stremme in the final three
races before taking over driving duties in the Penske car full-time next
season.
Tony Raines, Dave Blaney, Max Papis and Mike Bliss failed to qualify.
Sunday's 500-mile race is scheduled to start just after 3:15 p.m. (et).
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