NASCAR: Texas Qualifying *SPOILER*

Jeff Gordon claimed his fourth pole position of the season in qualifying for the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The four-times Sprint Cup series champion had dominated practice earlier in the day and improved his pace by about two tenths of a second on his only flying lap to claim his first ever pole position at one of the two tracks where he has never won a Cup race in his career.

"It was a great lap," said Gordon, who remains win-less this season with only three races left. "I think it has been very well documented how tough a weekend we had here in Texas back in April but this team has been working so hard that today was a real sign of that effort.

"I just think it's so ironic that the last three tracks Martinsville, Charlotte and Atlanta were all tracks where we thought we could win the pole at. Didn't get the opportunity because of rain and I though the last place we could win a pole was here at Texas and here we are in the pole, so anything can happen."

Martin Truex Jr matched his best qualifying effort of the season by lining up in the front row beside Gordon, while Clint Bowyer also equalled his season's best by taking third on the grid for Sunday's race.

Jamie McMurray was fourth while Dale Earnhardt Jr rounded up the top five. Reigning champion and Chase leader Jimmie Johnson will start from the inside of the fourth row of the grid, while rival Carl Edwards, who won at Texas in the spring, will line up 16th.

"I'm glad we were able to get this in just to be able to spread the guys out in the Chase," said Edwards following qualifying. "It's not the best qualifying effort for us, but it's not that bad to have a good start. We've got a great race car."

Qualifying low among the Chase contenders were Kyle Busch in 29th and Jeff Burton, who was only 38th fastest.

Quickest among those having to qualify on time was rookie Sam Hornish Jr in 21st, while AJ Allmendinger had been second fastest in practice but struggled on his qualifying effort and only lined up 36th on his third outing replacing Patrick Carpentier at the wheel of the No.10 Gillett Evernham Dodge.

"It's a little disappointing," said Allmendinger. "We were so solid in practice, but at least we're in the show. The car was pretty tight during our qualifying run and that wasn't the lap we were looking for. We'll put our focus towards practice tomorrow and getting another solid finish in the race. I know we can accomplish that."

Brad Keselowski made the field for his Sprint Cup debut in the No.25 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, beating Joey Logano who was the slowest qualifier in the No.02 JGR Toyota.

"I'm pretty sure I have a better race car than qualifying car," said Logano. "We were good in race trim at the beginning of the practice than for qualifying trim we were junk. We weren't much better this time but that's why we have tomorrow to work on this thing."

Meanwhile Ganassi's Bryan Clauson failed to be quick enough after hitting the wall twice on his run. Max Papis also struggled to find enough speed on his first outing for Germain Racing but he will try to make the field again at the season finale at Homestead.

Tony Raines, Chad McCumbee and Johnny Sauter also failed to qualify.

Pos Driver Car Speed Time
1. Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 188.469 28.652
2. Martin Truex Jr Chevrolet 188.003 28.723 + 0.071
3. Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 187.859 28.745 + 0.093
4. Jamie McMurray Ford 187.859 28.745 + 0.093
5. Dale Earnhardt Jr Chevrolet 187.748 28.762 + 0.110
6. Matt Kenseth Ford 187.428 28.811 + 0.159
7. Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 187.402 28.815 + 0.163
8. Tony Stewart Toyota 187.246 28.839 + 0.187
9. Reed Sorenson Dodge 187.175 28.850 + 0.198
10. Scott Riggs Chevrolet 187.136 28.856 + 0.204
11. Paul Menard Chevrolet 186.883 28.895 + 0.243
12. David Reutimann Toyota 186.677 28.927 + 0.275
13. Brian Vickers Toyota 186.664 28.929 + 0.277
14. Casey Mears Chevrolet 186.632 28.934 + 0.282
15. Michael Waltrip Toyota 186.554 28.946 + 0.294
16. Carl Edwards Ford 186.541 28.948 + 0.296
17. Denny Hamlin Toyota 186.509 28.953 + 0.301
18. David Ragan Ford 186.503 28.954 + 0.302
19. Greg Biffle Ford 186.490 28.956 + 0.304
20. Mark Martin Chevrolet 186.413 28.968 + 0.316
21. Sam Hornish Jr Dodge 186.335 28.980 + 0.328
22. Robby Gordon Dodge 186.316 28.983 + 0.331
23. Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 186.297 28.986 + 0.334
24. Marcos Ambrose Toyota 186.284 28.988 + 0.336
25. Regan Smith Chevrolet 186.207 29.000 + 0.348
26. Juan Montoya Dodge 186.162 29.007 + 0.355
27. Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 186.079 29.020 + 0.368
28. Kasey Kahne Dodge 186.021 29.029 + 0.377
29. Kyle Busch Toyota 185.778 29.067 + 0.415
30. Elliott Sadler Dodge 185.778 29.067 + 0.415
31. Ryan Newman Dodge 185.695 29.080 + 0.428
32. Ken Schrader Toyota 185.695 29.080 + 0.428
33. Scott Speed Toyota 185.644 29.088 + 0.436
34. David Gilliland Ford 185.370 29.131 + 0.479
35. Bobby Labonte Dodge 185.141 29.167 + 0.515
36. AJ Allmendinger Dodge 184.881 29.208 + 0.556
37. Brad Keselowski Chevrolet 184.766 29.226 + 0.574
38. Jeff Burton Chevrolet 184.754 29.228 + 0.576
39. Bill Elliott Ford 184.609 29.251 + 0.599
40. Kurt Busch Dodge 184.483 29.271 + 0.619
41. Dave Blaney Toyota 184.300 29.300 + 0.648
42. Travis Kvapil Ford 183.798 29.380 + 0.728
43. Joey Logano Toyota 184.281 29.303 + 0.651

Did not qualify:

Driver Car Speed Time
Bryan Clauson Dodge 183.536 29.422 + 0.770
Tony Raines Chevrolet 183.449 29.436 + 0.784
Chad McCumbee Dodge 182.371 29.610 + 0.958
Max Papis Toyota 180.138 29.977 + 1.325
Johnny Sauter Dodge 179.087 30.153 + 1.501

 

So much for Max Papis´ first effort. Despite what many thing, its not so easy to go from road racing to high speed ovals.