Jeff Gordon wins pole at Dover

Jeff Gordon

Jeff Gordon backed up his fast practice lap on Friday at Dover International Speedway by taking the pole for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Camping World RV 400 after recording a lap of 157.061 mph in qualifying.

Gordon, who claimed his fourth pole at the high-banked concrete track, edged Dale Earnhardt Inc. driver Mark Martin (157.054 mph) by a thousandth of a second for the top spot. Denny Hamlin (156.515 mph) qualified third, followed by Kurt Busch (156.379 mph) and Greg Biffle (156.284 mph), who won the first Chase race last Sunday at New Hampshire.

Clint Bowyer, David Gilliland, Matt Kenseth, Jamie McMurray and Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start from positions 6-10. Cup points leaders Jimmie Johnson and Carl Edwards earned the 20th and 22nd positions on the grid, respectively.

“This is great to come here and win the pole in the second race in the Chase," Gordon said.

For Mark Martin who qualified second, it was his best start of 2008.

"I have had so much fun driving Tony Gibson's car this year," Martin said. "Certainly a great day today. We are on a mission to get a win with the 8 car."

"Sixth-place in the Chase points Denny Hamlin will start third.

“This is the first race we actually did nothing but qualifying trim" Hamlin said.

“We spent a lot of effort in it and it paid off. That’s good for us."

Results

POS

CAR DRIVER MAKE SPONSOR SPEED TIME BEHIND
1 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 157.061 22.921 Leader
2 8 Mark Martin Chevrolet U.S. Army 157.054 22.922 -0.001
3 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota FedEx Ground 156.515 23.001 -0.080
4 2 Kurt Busch Dodge Miller Lite 156.379 23.021 -0.100
5 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3M 156.284 23.035 -0.114
6 07 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet Jack Daniel's 155.676 23.125 -0.204
7 38 David Gilliland Ford Ford. Drive one. 155.615 23.134 -0.213
8 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DEWALT 155.541 23.145 -0.224
9 26 Jamie McMurray Ford IRWIN Industrial Tools 155.514 23.149 -0.228
10 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet National Guard / AMP Energy 155.501 23.151 -0.230
11 18 Kyle Busch Toyota Interstate Batteries 155.501 23.151 -0.230
12 19 Elliott Sadler Dodge McDonald's 155.434 23.161 -0.240
13 70 Tony Raines Chevrolet Haas Automation 155.226 23.192 -0.271
14 44 David Reutimann Toyota UPS 155.179 23.199 -0.278
15 28 Travis Kvapil Ford Hitachi Power Tools 155.166 23.201 -0.280
16 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops / Tracker 155.132 23.206 -0.285
17 10 Patrick Carpentier* Dodge Charter Comm. 155.099 23.211 -0.290
18 83 Brian Vickers Toyota Red Bull 155.092 23.212 -0.291
19 12 Ryan Newman Dodge Alltel 155.045 23.219 -0.298
20 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 154.992 23.227 -0.306
21 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet AT&T Mobility 154.959 23.232 -0.311
22 99 Carl Edwards Ford Office Depot 154.912 23.239 -0.318
23 6 David Ragan Ford AAA Insurance 154.899 23.241 -0.320
24 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet Shell / Pennzoil 154.892 23.242 -0.321
25 77 Sam Hornish Jr.* Dodge Mobil 1 154.766 23.261 -0.340
26 01 Regan Smith* Chevrolet DEI / Principal Financial Group 154.739 23.265 -0.344
27 78 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet Furniture Row/ DenverMattress.com 154.646 23.279 -0.358
28 00 Michael McDowell* Toyota Champion Mortgage 154.427 23.312 -0.391
29 21 Marcos Ambrose Ford Little Debbie 154.414 23.314 -0.393
30 84 A.J. Allmendinger Toyota Red Bull 154.407 23.315 -0.394
31 5 Casey Mears Chevrolet Kellogg's / CARQUEST 154.334 23.326 -0.405
32 66 Scott Riggs Chevrolet State Water Heaters 153.826 23.403 -0.482
33 20 Tony Stewart Toyota The Home Depot 153.780 23.410 -0.489
34 15 Paul Menard Chevrolet Pittsburgh Paints / Menards 153.708 23.421 -0.500
35 42 Juan Montoya Dodge Big Red Slim Pack 153.512 23.451 -0.530
36 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Budweiser 153.492 23.454 -0.533
37 22 Dave Blaney Toyota Caterpillar 153.289 23.485 -0.564
38 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Wells Fargo 153.211 23.497 -0.576
39 41 Reed Sorenson Dodge Target 153.029 23.525 -0.604
40 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota NAPA AUTO PARTS 152.691 23.577 -0.656
41 7 Robby Gordon Dodge Menards 151.860 23.706 -0.785
42 43 Bobby Labonte+ Dodge Cheerios / Betty Crocker 151.045 23.834 -0.913
43 96 Ken Schrader Toyota DLP HDTV 153.074 23.518 -0.597
Did Not Qualify
44 34 Chad Chaffin Chevrolet Front Row Motorsports 151.828 23.711 -0.790
45 08 Johnny Sauter Dodge FUBAR All Natural Drink 145.849 24.683 -1.762
46 150 Stanton Barrett Chevrolet NOS Energy Drink / SKI / SBM