Surprise pole winner in New Hampshire

Raybestos Rookie of the Year Contender Patrick Carpentier earned his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole on Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Todd Warshaw/Getty Images for NASCAR

Ex-Champ Car star Patrick Carpentier surprised a lot of people on pit road by winning his first career pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Carpentier drove his Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge to his first pole in his 17th Sprint Cup start and will lead the field to the green in Sunday's 17th race of the 2008 season.

The qualifying sessions was halted for about a 90-minute rain delay after only 24 cars took laps. Once the skies cleared and the track dried, the rest of the field took their laps with Carpentier turning his surprising lap of 129.776 mph.

Bobby Labonte made it an all-Dodge front row by putting the Petty Enterprises No. 43 entry outside the front row.

Kevin Harvick, Scott Riggs and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. rounded out the top five.

Reed Sorenson, Dario Franchitti, Martin Truex, Jr., Matt Kenseth and A.J. Allmendinger completed the first 10 qualifiers.

Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. (ET).

Results

POS

CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 10 Patrick Carpentier* Dodge Berlin City Auto Group 129.776 29.349 Leader
2 43 Bobby Labonte Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 129.059 29.512 -0.163
3 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 128.976 29.531 -0.182
4 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 128.976 29.531 -0.182
5 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 128.885 29.552 -0.203
6 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 128.828 29.565 -0.216
7 40 Dario Franchitti* Dodge The Guitar Hero / Target 128.824 29.566 -0.217
8 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 128.645 29.607 -0.258
9 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 128.624 29.612 -0.263
10 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 128.624 29.612 -0.263
11 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge Hancock / Best Buy / Garmin 128.576 29.623 -0.274
12 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 128.498 29.641 -0.292
13 26 Jamie McMurray Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 128.459 29.650 -0.301
14 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 128.424 29.658 -0.309
15 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 128.415 29.660 -0.311
16 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 128.385 29.667 -0.318
17 99 Carl Edwards Ford DISH Network / DishDVRs 128.337 29.678 -0.329
18 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 128.299 29.687 -0.338
19 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 128.273 29.693 -0.344
20 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1 128.251 29.698 -0.349
21 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Ford. Drive one. 128.117 29.729 -0.380
22 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Robby Gordon Motorsports 128.057 29.743 -0.394
23 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 128.048 29.745 -0.396
24 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet CARQUEST / Kellogg's 127.984 29.760 -0.411
25 01 Regan Smith* Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 127.872 29.786 -0.437
26 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 127.859 29.789 -0.440
27 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 127.782 29.807 -0.458
28 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 127.731 29.819 -0.470
29 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 127.722 29.821 -0.472
30 96 J.J. Yeley Toyota DLP HDTV 127.662 29.835 -0.486
31 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet LENOX Industrial Tools 127.649 29.838 -0.489
32 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Texaco / Havoline 127.560 29.859 -0.510
33 38 David Gilliland Ford FreeCreditReport.com 127.444 29.886 -0.537
34 45 Terry Labonte Dodge Victory Junction Gang 127.397 29.897 -0.548
35 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance / Red Sox 127.312 29.917 -0.568
36 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 126.981 29.995 -0.646
37 70 Johnny Sauter Chevrolet Atlas Copco 126.964 29.999 -0.650
38 00 Michael McDowell* Toyota Champion Mortgage 126.846 30.027 -0.678
39 8 Aric Almirola Chevrolet U.S. Army 126.648 30.074 -0.725
40 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 126.572 30.092 -0.743
41 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 126.374 30.139 -0.790
42 15 Paul Menard+ Chevrolet Sylvania / Menards 126.148 30.193 -0.844
43 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row/ DenverMattress.com 126.391 30.135 -0.786
Did Not Qualify
44 34 Tony Raines Chevrolet doorstopnation.com 126.307 30.155 -0.806
45 21 Marcos Ambrose Ford Little Debbie Honey Buns 125.422 30.368 -1.019