Martin Truex Jr edges Kurt Busch for Dover NASCAR Sprint Cup pole

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver set a fastest lap of 22.641 seconds at an average speed of 159.004 mph, beating Penske's Busch by just three thousandths of a second to claim his first pole position of the season at the track where he got his only Cup victory thus far, back in 2007.

"We've had a really good car the last couple of times we've been here," said Truex. "The team did an awesome job tuning it up for qualifying. Hopefully tomorrow we'll put it all together but it was just a great lap."

He added: "We worked through a lot of things yesterday in practice and felt like the car was good. Then we went to the second practice and fought some things. But I think we found a little bit of an issue in the car and we'll have it dialled in."

Chase contenders ended up spread through the 43-car field, although four of the 12 title hopefuls claimed top-six starting spots.

Richard Childress Racing's Paul Menard, who had been fastest in the opening practice on Friday and among the most consistent in the second one, set the third fastest time of the session after running last in the order.

Behind Menard, Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards was fourth, Joe Gibbs Racing's Kyle Busch fifth while six-time Dover winner Jimmie Johnson was sixth fastest, his best result in qualifying during the Chase so far.

Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger was seventh ahead of JTG Daugherty's Bobby Labonte, who held provisional pole for a good portion of the session. Red Bull's Kasey Kahne and Roush's Greg Biffle - a two-time Dover winner - rounded out the top 10.

Chase leader Tony Stewart, who struggled during Friday's practice, had yet another lacklustre qualifying effort - finishing 28th, which will be his worst starting position since the play-off started.

Even further back than the two-time champion was Hendrick Motorsports' Jeff Gordon, who was 34th fastest, his worst in qualifying during the whole season.

Josh Wise was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 26th, while Mike Skinner was the only driver who failed to qualify after slapping the wall during his run.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               22.641s
 2.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                 22.644s  + 0.003s
 3.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          22.689s  + 0.048s
 4.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            22.705s  + 0.064s
 5.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 22.706s  + 0.065s
 6.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           22.712s  + 0.071s
 7.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                   22.723s  + 0.082s
 8.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         22.738s  + 0.097s
 9.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota              22.744s  + 0.103s
10.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            22.761s  + 0.120s
11.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 22.801s  + 0.160s
12.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   22.826s  + 0.185s
13.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          22.829s  + 0.188s
14.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota               22.831s  + 0.190s
15.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 22.832s  + 0.191s
16.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      22.832s  + 0.191s
17.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet           22.849s  + 0.208s
18.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            22.857s  + 0.216s
19.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford            22.866s  + 0.225s
20.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet       22.878s  + 0.237s
21.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           22.901s  + 0.260s
22.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          22.905s  + 0.264s
23.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  22.924s  + 0.283s
24.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  22.935s  + 0.294s
25.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet            22.956s  + 0.315s
26.  Josh Wise           Max Q Ford                   22.960s  + 0.319s
27.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet          22.964s  + 0.323s
28.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet       22.965s  + 0.324s
29.  Scott Speed         Whitney Ford                 23.005s  + 0.364s
30.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota              23.013s  + 0.372s
31.  David Stremme       Inception Chevrolet          23.040s  + 0.399s
32.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford               23.043s  + 0.402s
33.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                 23.068s  + 0.427s
34.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           23.082s  + 0.441s
35.  Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                    23.097s  + 0.456s
36.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               23.120s  + 0.479s
37.  Andy Lally          TRG Ford                     23.132s  + 0.491s
38.  Reed Sorenson       Gordon Dodge                 23.136s  + 0.495s
39.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota               23.158s  + 0.517s
40.  Mike Bliss          FAS Lane Ford                23.170s  + 0.529s
41.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            23.227s  + 0.586s
42.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 23.263s  + 0.622s
43.  JJ Yeley            Front Row Ford               23.273s  + 0.632s
44.  Mike Skinner        Germain Toyota               23.404s  + 0.763s