Truex nips Gordon for his first career pole in Texas
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Ft. Worth, Texas – Martin Truex Jr. captured his first career Bud Pole on Friday in qualifying for the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
Truex, Jr. turned a lap of 193.105 mph in his DEI Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet to beat point leader Jeff Gordon's 192.424 mph lap.
"We have been second a bunch this year, so we’ve been close," said Truex, who had qualified second quick at Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Martinsville earlier this season. "This is our favorite car."
Former Champ Car and F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, Kevin Harvick and former Champ Car driver A.J. Allmendinger rounded out the top five.
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“It was awesome. The car was perfect," said Allmendinger after his best Cup qualifying effort to date. "It’s been perfect all day. We brought a brand new car here and it’s just been fantastic. Everybody at the team has been working hard. It came down to that I didn’t want to overdrive the car because I knew we had a chance to put down a good lap. Knowing how early we went, we knew it wouldn’t be a pole lap. But, our goal was just to get solidly in the field — and that’s what happened."
"Atlanta showed where I’m growing as a driver, and where our team is growing. We definitely didn’t have a 16th-place car — we had a 30th to 35th-place car. I’m learning how to survive these races. In Atlanta, I got the ‘Lucky Dog’ twice and held onto it. Next thing you know, you end up with no marks on your car and finish in the top-20 — and that’s what I’m looking for. Honestly, six months earlier I would have wrecked at lap 100 just trying to hang on to the car. We’re learning and getting better and that’s what’s important."
Kurt Busch, Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson, Casey Mears and Mark Martin completed the first ten qualifiers.
Five drivers failed to qualify for Sunday's race: Michael Waltrip, Burney Lamar, John Andretti, Kevin Lepage and Ward Burton.
Sunday's Dickies 500 will take the green flag at 3:30 p.m. ET.
Results
| POS | CAR | DRIVER | MAKE | SPONSOR | SPEED | TIME | BEHIND LEADER |
| 1 | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Chevrolet | Bass Pro Shops / Tracker | 193.105 | 27.964 | -0.000 |
| 2 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | DuPont | 192.424 | 28.063 | -0.099 |
| 3 | 42 | Juan Montoya* | Dodge | Texaco / Havoline | 192.417 | 28.064 | -0.100 |
| 4 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | Shell / Pennzoil | 192.239 | 28.090 | -0.126 |
| 5 | 84 | A.J. Allmendinger* | Toyota | Red Bull | 192.239 | 28.090 | -0.126 |
| 6 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | Miller Lite | 192.164 | 28.101 | -0.137 |
| 7 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Chevrolet | FedEx Kinko's | 192.130 | 28.106 | -0.142 |
| 8 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | Lowe's / Kobalt Tools | 192.068 | 28.115 | -0.151 |
| 9 | 25 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | National Guard / GMAC | 191.904 | 28.139 | -0.175 |
| 10 | 01 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | U.S. Army | 191.605 | 28.183 | -0.219 |
| 11 | 12 | Ryan Newman | Dodge | ALLTEL | 191.557 | 28.190 | -0.226 |
| 12 | 8 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | Budweiser | 191.449 | 28.206 | -0.242 |
| 13 | 43 | Bobby Labonte | Dodge | Cheerios Spoonfuls of Stories | 191.388 | 28.215 | -0.251 |
| 14 | 36 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | 360 OTC | 191.381 | 28.216 | -0.252 |
| 15 | 20 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | The Home Depot | 191.327 | 28.224 | -0.260 |
| 16 | 15 | Paul Menard* | Chevrolet | Moen / Menards | 191.286 | 28.230 | -0.266 |
| 17 | 5 | Kyle Busch | Chevrolet | CARQUEST / Kellogg's | 191.272 | 28.232 | -0.268 |
| 18 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | USG Sheetrock / DEWALT | 191.191 | 28.244 | -0.280 |
| 19 | 19 | Elliott Sadler | Dodge | Dodge Dealers Lifetime Powertrain Warranty / UAW | 191.022 | 28.269 | -0.305 |
| 20 | 10 | Scott Riggs | Dodge | Stanley Proto Tools / Valvoline | 191.022 | 28.269 | -0.305 |
| 21 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | Office Depot | 190.981 | 28.275 | -0.311 |
| 22 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | Red Bull | 190.941 | 28.281 | -0.317 |
| 23 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | Jackson Hewitt | 190.887 | 28.289 | -0.325 |
| 24 | 26 | Jamie McMurray | Ford | Crown Royal Special Reserve | 190.813 | 28.300 | -0.336 |
| 25 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Dodge | Dodge Dealers Lifetime Powertrain Warranty / UAW | 190.665 | 28.322 | -0.358 |
| 26 | 44 | Dale Jarrett | Toyota | UPS | 190.665 | 28.322 | -0.358 |
| 27 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | AT&T Mobility | 190.570 | 28.336 | -0.372 |
| 28 | 40 | David Stremme | Dodge | HomeLife Communities | 190.476 | 28.350 | -0.386 |
| 29 | 07 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | Jack Daniel's | 190.181 | 28.394 | -0.430 |
| 30 | 21 | Bill Elliott | Ford | Delimex | 190.034 | 28.416 | -0.452 |
| 31 | 41 | Reed Sorenson | Dodge | Target | 189.860 | 28.442 | -0.478 |
| 32 | 22 | Dave Blaney | Toyota | Caterpillar | 189.820 | 28.448 | -0.484 |
| 33 | 6 | David Ragan* | Ford | AAA Insurance | 189.807 | 28.450 | -0.486 |
| 34 | 38 | David Gilliland | Ford | M&M's | 189.640 | 28.475 | -0.511 |
| 35 | 78 | Joe Nemechek | Chevrolet | Furniture Row Racing | 189.620 | 28.478 | -0.514 |
| 36 | 66 | Jeremy Mayfield | Chevrolet | Best Buy | 189.580 | 28.484 | -0.520 |
| 37 | 45 | Kyle Petty | Dodge | National Tire & Battery | 189.354 | 28.518 | -0.554 |
| 38 | 18 | J.J. Yeley | Chevrolet | Interstate Batteries | 188.114 | 28.706 | -0.742 |
| 39 | 88 | Ricky RuddÃ- | Ford | Snickers | 187.983 | 28.726 | -0.762 |
| 40 | 96 | Tony RainesÃ- | Chevrolet | DLP HDTV | 187.911 | 28.737 | -0.773 |
| 41 | 7 | Robby GordonÃ- | Ford | MAPEI / Menards | 187.298 | 28.831 | -0.867 |
| 42 | 70 | Johnny SauterÃ- | Chevrolet | FleetPride / Yellow | 186.651 | 28.931 | -0.967 |
| 43 | 00 | David Reutimann* | Toyota | Burger King | 189.321 | 28.523 | -0.559 |
| Did Not Qualify | |||||||
| 44 | 4 | Ward Burton | Chevrolet | Lucas Oil / State Water Heaters | 189.082 | 28.559 | -0.595 |
| 45 | 49 | John Andretti | Dodge | Paralyzed Veterans of America | 188.917 | 28.584 | -0.620 |
| 46 | 55 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | NAPA Auto Parts | 188.436 | 28.657 | -0.693 |
| 47 | 208 | Burney Lamar | Dodge | rhino's energy drink | 186.419 | 28.967 | -1.003 |
| 48 | 34 | Kevin Lepage | Dodge | MyAutoLoan.com | 184.332 | 29.295 | -1.331 |
Ã- Set by Owner Points
* Denotes Rookie