Truex takes maiden Cup pole

The DEI driver was among the last to complete his run, knocking Juan Pablo Montoya off from the top of the leaderboard by improving a full tenth of a second over the Ganassi driver's lap with a time of 28.964 seconds at an average speed of 193.105 mph.

"I didn't think it was going to be the lap that it was," said Truex, who ran the same car he crashed in the closing laps of last weekend's race at Atlanta.

"I thought it was going to be a little bit slower than that but I've just got to hand it to all the guys in my team.

"They've rebuilt this car from last week. This is my favourite car and it has been for a good part of the season. I've got to thank them for putting it back together and making it as good as new."

However, he just came close and ended up second, beating Montoya by only one thousandth of a second to the front row.

"We were strong in practice and we knew we had a shot at it," Gordon said. "It came down to the adjustments.

"Going late like that the track had some great grip and unfortunately the pace that we needed to beat Martin, we just needed to be a little bit freer.

"But very solid day; front-row starting position, a good place on pit road and a car that's driving very well, so I'm very happy."

Montoya had his best qualifying on a mile-and-a-half oval thus far. He had been sixth fastest in practice and backed that up with a good lap, which puts him in a good position to try to improve on the eighth-place finish he claimed at this venue back in April.

"I think it's a little surprising," Montoya said. "In practice we were sixth fastest and the car wasn't that great, it was really tight. My teammates didn't pick really up much from practice so I was expecting a 29.2.

"Grip was pretty good for us, the balance was a little better and we ran a little faster. It's been the fourth time that is good but not enough, but we're getting there."

Kevin Harvick had been at the top of the leaderboard for most of the session but ended up fourth ahead of an impressive AJ Allmendinger who scored by far his best ever qualifying result in the Nextel Cup with fifth place.

"It was awesome," said Allmendinger. "The car was perfect. It's been perfect all day. We brought a brand new car here and it's just been fantastic.

"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."

Jimmie Johnson qualified eighth, behind Chase contenders Kurt Busch and Denny Hamlin. His Hendrick teammate Casey Mears and veteran Mark Martin rounded up the top ten behind him.

Clint Bowyer, currently third in the title race, was the lowest qualifier of the Chase contenders, only managing a 29th place which is not far from his starting spot last weekend at Atlanta where he still got a top-ten finish.

Mike Skinner, current Craftsman Truck Series title contender in today's season finale at Texas, was among those running well from the drivers who needed to make the field on time.

He put the No. 36 Bill Davis Racing Toyota in 14th place and will start from pole in the Truck Series race today, hoping to claim his second title.

Ward Burton, John Andretti, Michael Waltrip, Burney Lamar and Kevin Lepage all failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver             Car        Speed    Time
 1.  Martin Truex Jr    Chevrolet  193.105  27.964
 2.  Jeff Gordon        Chevrolet  192.424  28.063  + 0.099
 3.  Juan Montoya       Dodge      192.417  28.064  + 0.100
 4.  Kevin Harvick      Chevrolet  192.239  28.090  + 0.126
 5.  A.J. Allmendinger  Toyota     192.239  28.090  + 0.126
 6.  Kurt Busch         Dodge      192.164  28.101  + 0.137
 7.  Denny Hamlin       Chevrolet  192.130  28.106  + 0.142
 8.  Jimmie Johnson     Chevrolet  192.068  28.115  + 0.151
 9.  Casey Mears        Chevrolet  191.904  28.139  + 0.175
10.  Mark Martin        Chevrolet  191.605  28.183  + 0.219
11.  Ryan Newman        Dodge      191.557  28.190  + 0.226
12.  Dale Earnhardt Jr  Chevrolet  191.449  28.206  + 0.242
13.  Bobby Labonte      Dodge      191.388  28.215  + 0.251
14.  Mike Skinner       Toyota     191.381  28.216  + 0.252
15.  Tony Stewart       Chevrolet  191.327  28.224  + 0.260
16.  Paul Menard        Chevrolet  191.286  28.230  + 0.266
17.  Kyle Busch         Chevrolet  191.272  28.232  + 0.268
18.  Matt Kenseth       Ford       191.191  28.244  + 0.280
19.  Elliott Sadler     Dodge      191.022  28.269  + 0.305
20.  Scott Riggs        Dodge      191.022  28.269  + 0.305
21.  Carl Edwards       Ford       190.981  28.275  + 0.311
22.  Brian Vickers      Toyota     190.941  28.281  + 0.317
23.  Greg Biffle        Ford       190.887  28.289  + 0.325
24.  Jamie McMurray     Ford       190.813  28.300  + 0.336
25.  Kasey Kahne        Dodge      190.665  28.322  + 0.358
26.  Dale Jarrett       Toyota     190.665  28.322  + 0.358
27.  Jeff Burton        Chevrolet  190.570  28.336  + 0.372
28.  David Stremme      Dodge      190.476  28.350  + 0.386
29.  Clint Bowyer       Chevrolet  190.181  28.394  + 0.430
30.  Bill Elliott       Ford       190.034  28.416  + 0.452
31.  Reed Sorenson      Dodge      189.860  28.442  + 0.478
32.  Dave Blaney        Toyota     189.820  28.448  + 0.484
33.  David Ragan        Ford       189.807  28.450  + 0.486
34.  David Gilliland    Ford       189.640  28.475  + 0.511
35.  Joe Nemechek       Chevrolet  189.620  28.478  + 0.514
36.  Jeremy Mayfield    Chevrolet  189.580  28.484  + 0.520
37.  Kyle Petty         Dodge      189.354  28.518  + 0.554
38.  J.J. Yeley         Chevrolet  188.114  28.706  + 0.742
39.  Ricky Rudd         Ford       187.983  28.726  + 0.762
40.  Tony Raines        Chevrolet  187.911  28.737  + 0.773
41.  Robby Gordon       Ford       187.298  28.831  + 0.867
42.  Johnny Sauter      Chevrolet  186.651  28.931  + 0.967
43.  David Reutimann    Toyota     189.321  28.523  + 0.559