Waltrip on Cup pole, Villeneuve sixth

The former Daytona 500 and Talladega race winner will make just his 14th start of the season from pole position by lapping at an average speed of 189.070 mph in the second of his two qualifying laps.

"I felt confident yesterday that we would make the race," said driver and team-owner Waltrip. "Our qualifying lap was faster than what we ran in practice. If I only had to worry about my car, I would've been happier.

"But, I had to worry about Dale (Jarrett) and David (Reutimann) making the race too. It is more important for me to have all three cars in. For me to be first is a bonus. To have all three cars in the race is very gratifying."

Brian Vickers took Team Red Bull's best qualifying result of the season by taking second in his No. 83 Toyota Camry. His team's success was not complete however as AJ Allmendinger was bumped out of the field by another Toyota in the last minute.

"I just had to hit my shifts and hold it wide open," Vickers said. "The team has been working so hard at it. The CoT program definitely helped us catch up everyone else. Toyota came back with more power and that always helps."

Joe Nemechek, yet another driver who needed to be quick enough to make the field, took fourth as the fastest Chevrolet driver, while rounding up the top-five and also a good day for Waltrip was his rookie driver David Reutimann taking fifth.

Waltrip's third car driven by another Talladega race-winner, 1998 Cup champion Dale Jarrett, also made the field qualifying eighth but starting 43rd due to the complex set of rules to make up the field following qualifying.

Jacques Villeneuve made Toyota's day all the more sweet after taking sixth on the grid for his Nextel Cup debut. He ran second fastest for a while but his lap held among the quickest despite the improving track conditions towards the end of the session.

"We knew yesterday that we had a pretty quick car," Villeneuve said. "We were a little bit faster yesterday in practice, and we were hoping that we could've had a faster time today. We missed some practice time early, but when we got out there, we showed some good speed."

"Qualifying is one thing, but racing is another thing. The car was running really strong after we started yesterday and I am feeling more and more comfortable in the draft. There are plenty of fast cars out there that we had to qualify against, but racing here will be completely different."

John Andretti was seventh, followed by fellow Dodge drivers Bobby Labonte, Kasey Kahne and Elliot Sadler who completed the top ten on the grid for Sunday's race.

While most of the drivers who needed to qualify on time focused more on single-lap performance, the rest of them including all the Chase contenders, completed qualifying as a mere formality knowing that once the green flag drops the order will start to change by the lap in the draft.

As they face the race hoping to avoid a potential big wreck, Tony Stewart was the best placed for the first few laps from the title contenders. He put his car 11th on the grid, Martin Truex Jr followed in 13th, while teammate Denny Hamlin was 18th one place ahead of Chase leader Jimmie Johnson.

Three of the Chase contenders were in fact among the slowest in qualifying, including Jeff Gordon, Kyle Busch and Kevin Harvick, who will all start near the back of the field.

Two cars were found to be too low in the front following their qualifying runs. Chase contender Kurt Busch and also David Ragan, had their times disallowed as a consequence and will start from 41st and 42nd respectively.

AJ Allmendinger, Boris Said, Scott Riggs, Sam Hornish Jr, Jeremy Mayfield, Sterling Marlin, Ward Burton and Kevin Lepage did not make the field for Sunday's race at Talladega.

Pos  Driver               Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Michael Waltrip      Toyota      189.070   50.648
 2.  Dave Blaney          Toyota      188.839   50.710 + 0.062
 3.  Brian Vickers        Toyota      188.779   50.726 + 0.078
 4.  Joe Nemechek         Chevrolet   188.471   50.809 + 0.161
 5.  David Reutimann      Toyota      188.459   50.812 + 0.164
 6.  Jacques Villeneuve   Toyota      188.215   50.878 + 0.230
 7.  John Andretti        Dodge       187.798   50.991 + 0.343
 8.  Bobby Labonte        Dodge       187.284   51.131 + 0.483
 9.  Kasey Kahne          Dodge       187.258   51.138 + 0.490
10.  Elliott Sadler       Dodge       187.119   51.176 + 0.528
11.  Tony Stewart         Chevrolet   187.057   51.193 + 0.545
12.  Kyle Petty           Dodge       186.827   51.256 + 0.608
13.  Martin Truex Jr      Chevrolet   186.816   51.259 + 0.611
14.  Tony Raines          Chevrolet   186.761   51.274 + 0.626
15.  Mike Wallace         Ford        186.692   51.293 + 0.645
16.  Ryan Newman          Dodge       186.663   51.301 + 0.653
17.  JJ Yeley             Chevrolet   186.467   51.355 + 0.707
18.  Denny Hamlin         Chevrolet   186.202   51.428 + 0.780
19.  Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet   186.133   51.447 + 0.799
20.  Greg Biffle          Ford        186.014   51.480 + 0.832
21.  Jeff Burton          Chevrolet   185.956   51.496 + 0.848
22.  Juan Montoya         Dodge       185.938   51.501 + 0.853
23.  Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet   185.826   51.532 + 0.884
24.  Robby Gordon         Ford        185.797   51.540 + 0.892
25.  Matt Kenseth         Ford        185.783   51.544 + 0.896
26.  Dale Earnhardt Jr    Chevrolet   185.783   51.544 + 0.896
27.  David Gilliland      Ford        185.725   51.560 + 0.912
28.  Reed Sorenson        Dodge       185.625   51.588 + 0.940
29.  Casey Mears          Chevrolet   185.542   51.611 + 0.963
30.  Paul Menard          Chevrolet   185.463   51.633 + 0.985
31.  Carl Edwards         Ford        185.323   51.672 + 1.024
32.  Jeff Green           Chevrolet   185.212   51.703 + 1.055
33.  David Stremme        Dodge       185.061   51.745 + 1.097
34.  Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet   185.051   51.748 + 1.100
35.  Jamie McMurray       Ford        184.918   51.785 + 1.137
36.  Kyle Busch           Chevrolet   184.890   51.793 + 1.145
37.  Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet   184.726   51.839 + 1.191
38.  Aric Almirola        Chevrolet   184.626   51.867 + 1.219
39.  Johnny Sauter        Chevrolet   184.580   51.880 + 1.232
40.  Ken Schrader         Ford        184.193   51.989 + 1.341
41.  Kurt Busch           Dodge       186.416   51.369 + 0.721
42.  David Ragan          Ford        185.255   51.691 + 1.043
43.  Dale Jarrett         Toyota      187.658   51.029 + 0.381