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Atlanta NASCAR: Tony Stewart claims first pole of 2012

Tony Stewart claimed his first pole position of the NASCAR Sprint Cup season in qualifying for Sunday's race at Atlanta

The reigning champion beat the previous benchmark set by points leader Greg Biffle with a lap of 29.787 seconds at an average speed of 186,121 mph around the mile-and-a-half oval. His pole is only his 14th in 489 starts in NASCAR's elite series.

"I'm not very good at qualifying, to be honest," Stewart said. "We get so focused on the race balance of the car that I've just never historically in this series been a good qualifier. Qualifying has obviously not been my strong suit."

Stewart bounced back with a rare pole after dropping to 10th place in the points following last weekend's Bristol race where he crashed with Matt Kenseth while fighting for the lead. At present he risks losing the bonus points he could earn towards his Chase seeding for his three race victories.

Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch and Michael Waltrip Racing's Martin Truex Jr had been fastest in practice earlier and completed their qualifying runs after the three-time champion but neither managed to beat his flying lap in the Stewart-Haas Chevrolet.

Busch ended up third fastest while Biffle's Roush Fenway team-mate Matt Kenseth was fourth ahead of five-time Atlanta victor Jeff Gordon, who won the event a year ago. The Hendrick driver heads into Atlanta still in contention for a wildcard spot in the Chase. Busch currently holds the last spot available for the play-off.

The JGR Toyotas had a strong session, all three ending up among the top 10. Denny Hamlin qualified seventh while Joey Logano, still with a chance of a wildcard, set the ninth fastest time.

Three-time Atlanta winner Carl Edwards, still looking for his first victory of 2012 to boost his chances of making the Chase, was 12th but slowest of the Roush cars in qualifying trim.

Practice pacesetter Truex could not back up his speed in qualifying, ending up only 28th in the order on the day his new MWR deal was announced.

David Stremme was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 31st, while Michael McDowell, Josh Wise, Stephen Leicht and Mike Bliss failed to make the field.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       29.787s
 2.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            29.863s  + 0.076s
 3.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 29.888s  + 0.101s
 4.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            29.916s  + 0.129s
 5.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.918s  + 0.131s
 6.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota               29.930s  + 0.143s
 7.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 29.932s  + 0.145s
 8.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           29.945s  + 0.158s
 9.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                 29.954s  + 0.167s
10.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   29.959s  + 0.172s
11.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.968s  + 0.181s
12.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            29.979s  + 0.192s
13.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   29.988s  + 0.201s
14.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               30.010s  + 0.223s
15.  Sam Hornish Jr      Penske Dodge                 30.031s  + 0.244s
16.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet            30.038s  + 0.251s
17.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.052s  + 0.265s
18.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          30.061s  + 0.274s
19.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 30.117s  + 0.330s
20.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  30.119s  + 0.332s
21.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 30.121s  + 0.334s
22.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            30.172s  + 0.385s
23.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.184s  + 0.397s
24.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          30.189s  + 0.402s
25.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         30.211s  + 0.424s
26.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          30.227s  + 0.440s
27.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      30.231s  + 0.444s
28.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               30.234s  + 0.447s
29.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               30.235s  + 0.448s
30.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               30.240s  + 0.453s
31.  David Stremme       Inception Toyota             30.289s  + 0.502s
32.  Trevor Bayne        Wood Brothers Ford           30.314s  + 0.527s
33.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  30.335s  + 0.548s
34.  Jason Leffler       Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     30.349s  + 0.562s
35.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           30.357s  + 0.570s
36.  Scott Speed         Leavine Ford                 30.370s  + 0.583s
37.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 30.398s  + 0.611s
38.  Reed Sorenson       Humphrey Smith Chevrolet     30.430s  + 0.643s
39.  Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                 30.438s  + 0.651s
40.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                    30.592s  + 0.805s
41.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    30.710s  + 0.923s
42.  TJ Bell             FAS Lane Ford                30.722s  + 0.935s
43.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet            30.450s  + 0.663s

Did not qualify:

     Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 30.499s  + 0.712s
     Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               30.564s  + 0.777s
     Stephen Leicht      Circle Sport Chevrolet       30.582s  + 0.795s
     Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota        30.689s  + 0.902s

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