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Earnhardt takes Daytona 500 pole

Dale Earnhardt Jr claimed pole position for the season-opening Daytona 500 as Jeff Gordon completed the third ever Hendrick Motorsports front-row sweep for NASCAR's top event

As the stock-car community commemorates the 10th anniversary of Dale Earnhardt's fatal accident on the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500, his son - NASCAR's most popular driver - will get to see the green flag wave from pole position next Sunday in the first points event of the 2011 Sprint Cup season.

At the wheel of his #88 Chevrolet Impala, Earnhardt set a fastest lap of 48.364 seconds at an average speed of 186.089 mph, beating the previous benchmark which had been set a few minutes before by his team-mate Gordon.

Earnhardt thus gets his partnership with new crew chief Steve Letarte off to a great start, while giving his boss Rick Hendrick a seventh pole and also a third front-row sweep for the Daytona 500.

"Obviously this gives you a good idea that we've got a great car, but anybody can win the race," said Earnhardt, who has yet to win for a second time for Hendrick Motorsports since his maiden victory with the team in a points race back in 2008.

"It's going to be a tough race to win. We're going to work really hard. The main thing this does for me is it takes a lot of pressure of for the [Gatorade Duel] qualifier. I can just go out there and have fun, try to have fun winning that race.

"Don't really need to worry about where I need to finish. Just need to bring all the hard work home this week."

Gordon also got off to a good start in his partnership with new crew chief Alan Gustafson, securing his third ever Daytona 500 front-row start.

"We're here to win so we're going to do everything that we feel like we need to do to try to win this race," said Gordon, win-less since a victory early in the 2009 season at Texas.

"You're going to have to take risks along the way and I'm just so happy right now that all the hard work has paid off and we're on the front row. That's step one."

Rookie Trevor Bayne, who will be making only his second ever Cup start next weekend, impressed by setting the third-fastest speed of the day at the wheel of Wood Brothers' #21 Ford.

Richard Childress Racing's new driving Paul Menard, another one starting a new role in style, was fourth-fastest ahead of four other Chevrolets, including two of his RCR team-mates.

However, besides the front-row Hendrick duo, they will all have to go through next Thursday's Gatorade Duels to determine their starting position for the season-opener.

Securing a place on the grid through speed were Bill Elliott, Joe Nemechek, Travis Kvapil and Terry Labonte, the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in qualifying.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson was 15th fastest and slowest among the Hendrick roster. Last year's runner-up Denny Hamlin had a bizarre incident, running onto the infield grass while coming out of the pits to start his qualifying run, as the steering wheel came off his #11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

The four remaining spots in the field for the 53rd running of the Daytona 500 will be earned through Thursday's Gatorade Duels.

Pos  Driver                Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Chevrolet  186.089  48.364s
 2.  Jeff Gordon           Chevrolet  185.966  48.396s  + 0.032s
 3.  Trevor Bayne          Ford       185.445  48.532s  + 0.168s
 4.  Paul Menard           Chevrolet  185.422  48.538s  + 0.174s
 5.  Clint Bowyer          Chevrolet  185.223  48.590s  + 0.226s
 6.  Jeff Burton           Chevrolet  185.071  48.630s  + 0.266s
 7.  Ryan Newman           Chevrolet  185.003  48.648s  + 0.284s
 8.  Mark Martin           Chevrolet  184.991  48.651s  + 0.287s
 9.  Tony Stewart          Chevrolet  184.911  48.672s  + 0.308s
10.  Greg Biffle           Ford       184.911  48.672s  + 0.308s
11.  Kurt Busch            Dodge      184.896  48.676s  + 0.312s
12.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Chevrolet  184.763  48.711s  + 0.347s
13.  Marcos Ambrose        Toyota     184.748  48.715s  + 0.351s
14.  Kevin Harvick         Chevrolet  184.740  48.717s  + 0.353s
15.  Jimmie Johnson        Chevrolet  184.687  48.731s  + 0.367s
16.  David Ragan           Ford       184.612  48.751s  + 0.387s
17.  Bill Elliott          Chevrolet  184.532  48.772s  + 0.408s
18.  Carl Edwards          Ford       184.475  48.787s  + 0.423s
19.  AJ Allmendinger       Ford       184.290  48.836s  + 0.472s
20.  Travis Kvapil         Ford       184.271  48.841s  + 0.477s
21.  Joe Nemechek          Toyota     184.222  48.854s  + 0.490s
22.  Matt Kenseth          Ford       184.102  48.886s  + 0.522s
23.  David Reutimann       Toyota     184.019  48.908s  + 0.544s
24.  Brad Keselowski       Dodge      184.008  48.911s  + 0.547s
25.  Michael Waltrip       Toyota     183.966  48.922s  + 0.558s
26.  Dave Blaney           Chevrolet  183.794  48.968s  + 0.604s
27.  Jamie McMurray        Chevrolet  183.685  48.997s  + 0.633s
28.  Regan Smith           Chevrolet  183.681  48.998s  + 0.634s
29.  Kasey Kahne           Toyota     183.602  49.019s  + 0.655s
30.  Kyle Busch            Toyota     183.595  49.021s  + 0.657s
31.  Bobby Labonte         Toyota     183.576  49.026s  + 0.662s
32.  Brian Vickers         Toyota     183.557  49.031s  + 0.667s
33.  Martin Truex Jr       Toyota     183.456  49.058s  + 0.694s
34.  Joey Logano           Toyota     183.206  49.125s  + 0.761s
35.  Todd Bodine           Toyota     183.057  49.165s  + 0.801s
36.  Kevin Conway          Toyota     182.949  49.194s  + 0.830s
37.  Casey Mears           Toyota     182.867  49.216s  + 0.852s
38.  David Gilliland       Ford       182.697  49.262s  + 0.898s
39.  Steve Wallace         Toyota     182.574  49.295s  + 0.931s
40.  Michael McDowell      Toyota     182.434  49.333s  + 0.969s
41.  Robby Gordon          Dodge      182.120  49.418s  + 1.054s
42.  Terry Labonte         Ford       181.492  49.589s  + 1.225s
43.  Robert Richardson Jr  Ford       181.466  49.596s  + 1.232s
44.  Denny Hamlin          Toyota     181.316  49.637s  + 1.273s
45.  JJ Yeley              Chevrolet  180.977  49.730s  + 1.366s
46.  Andy Lally            Chevrolet  180.828  49.771s  + 1.407s
47.  Derrike Cope          Toyota     177.894  50.592s  + 2.228s
48.  Brian Keselowski      Dodge      177.581  50.681s  + 2.317s

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