Dales shine at Atlanta

He was topped by Dale Jarrett in the Ford Credit No. 88.

Jarrett will start on the pole for the second time in 2000, while Earnhardt Jr. makes his first Winston Cup front-row start.

Earnhardt Jr is the only Winston Cup driver to qualifying among the top ten in each of this season's four races, and he now possesses the best average starting position among all Winston Cup drivers (average start: 5).

In nine career Cup races, Earnhardt has started in the top 10 five times.

Earnhardt Jr said: "It was a pretty crazy lap - but hey that's Atlanta.

"We suspected the engine was down on power this morning, so my guys put a new engine before qualifying, and that seemed to make the difference.

"It's a boost to my team and my guys in the engine shop - we're [Dale Earnhardt Inc.] still a new company with a new engine shop, so it's great to be so far up front and to see my teammate in third.

"We did use a lot of information from (Steve) Park's team this morning. Some of the engineers that work with both cars shared a lot of information and we made some changes that helped my car.

"I could have been smoother on the lap - it was real loose. I didn't expect to see a lap that fast."

ROW 1
1 88 Dale Jarrett Ford 28.789 192.574
2 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr Chev 28.825 192.333

ROW 2
3 1 Steve Park Chev 28.842 192.220
4 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 28.854 192.140

ROW 3
5 16 Kevin Lepage Ford 28.863 192.080
6 25 Jerry Nadeau Chev 28.866 192.060

ROW 4
7 24 Jeff Gordon Chev 28.883 191.947
8 33 Joe Nemechek Chev 28.926 191.661

ROW 5
9 93 Dave Blaney Pont 28.963 191.417
10 94 Bill Elliott Ford 28.979 191.311

ROW 6
11 6 Mark Martin Ford 28.993 191.219
12 77 Robert Pressley Ford 28.995 191.205

ROW 7
13 97 Chad Little Ford 28.997 191.192
14 31 Mike Skinner Chev 29.014 191.080

ROW 8
15 27 Jeff Fuller Pont 29.016 191.067
16 11 Brett Bodine Ford 29.024 191.014

ROW 9
17 9 Stacy Compton Ford 29.038 190.922
18 22 Ward Burton Pont 29.077 190.666

ROW 10
19 26 Jimmy Spencer Ford 29.078 190.660
20 32 Scott Pruett Ford 29.124 190.358

ROW 11
21 75 Wally Dallenbach Ford 29.138 190.267
22 18 Bobby Labonte Pont 29.151 190.182

ROW 12
23 43 John Andretti Pont 29.178 190.006
24 91 Todd Bodine Chev 29.195 189.896

ROW 13
25 41 Rick Mast Chev 29.220 189.733
26 55 Kenny Wallace Chev 29.226 189.694

ROW 14
27 20 Tony Stewart Pont 29.255 189.506
28 7 Michael Waltrip Chev 29.291 189.273

ROW 15
29 99 Jeff Burton Ford 29.292 189.267
30 2 Rusty Wallace Ford 29.309 189.157

ROW 16
31 21 Elliott Sadler Ford 29.314 189.125
32 42 Kenny Irwin Chev 29.319 189.092

ROW 17
33 12 Jeremy Mayfield Ford 29.320 189.086
34 28 Ricky Rudd Ford 29.323 189.067

ROW 18
35 3 Dale Earnhardt Chev 29.359 188.835
36 15 Derrike Cope Ford 29.380 188.700

ROW 19
37 5 Terry Labonte Chev Provisional
38 4 Bobby Hamilton Chev Provisional

ROW 20
39 40 Sterling Marlin Chev Provisional
40 44 Kyle Petty Pont Provisional

ROW 21
41 60 Ted Musgrave Chev Provisional
42 36 Ken Schrader Pont Provisional

ROW 22
43 66 Darrell Waltrip Ford Past Champ Provisional