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Kentucky NASCAR: Dale Earnhardt Jr takes first pole of 2013

Dale Earnhardt Jr earned his first pole of the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup season in qualifying at Kentucky Speedway

It looked like his championship-leading Hendrick team-mate Jimmie Johnson might be hard to beat when he went 0.2 seconds clear of the field with a record 29.485s lap early on.

But Earnhardt was able to topple Johnson by 0.079s as he put himself on pole for the first time since Richmond last autumn.

Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards then got between the Hendrick duo to claim the outside front row spot with a lap 0.053s down on Earnhardt.

Joe Gibbs Racing duo Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin put their cars fourth and sixth, separated by Marcos Ambrose's Richard Petty Motorsports Ford.

The remaining top 10 spots went to Ryan Newman, champion Brad Keselowski, Brian Vickers and Juan Pablo Montoya.

The Kentucky race takes place on Saturday night local time.

Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           29.406s
 2.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            29.459s  +0.053s
 3.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           29.485s  +0.079s
 4.  Kyle Busch          Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.574s  +0.168s
 5.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   29.575s  +0.169s
 6.  Denny Hamlin        Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.615s  +0.209s
 7.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       29.629s  +0.223s
 8.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Ford                  29.639s  +0.233s
 9.  Brian Vickers       Waltrip Toyota               29.683s  +0.277s
10.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  29.716s  +0.310s
11.  Joey Logano         Penske Ford                  29.718s  +0.312s
12.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.727s  +0.321s
13.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr  Roush Fenway Ford            29.770s  +0.364s
14.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          29.775s  +0.369s
15.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota               29.808s  +0.402s
16.  Matt Kenseth        Joe Gibbs Toyota             29.816s  +0.410s
17.  AJ Allmendinger     JTG Daugherty Toyota         29.852s  +0.446s
18.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                   29.856s  +0.450s
19.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               29.862s  +0.456s
20.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            29.873s  +0.467s
21.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet           29.894s  +0.488s
22.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          29.904s  +0.498s
23.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  29.926s  +0.520s
24.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          30.005s  +0.599s
25.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.006s  +0.600s
26.  Austin Dillon       Phoenix Chevrolet            30.033s  +0.627s
27.  Kurt Busch          Furniture Row Chevrolet      30.102s  +0.696s
28.  David Stremme       Swan Toyota                  30.155s  +0.749s
29.  Danica Patrick      Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       30.177s  +0.771s
30.  Landon Cassill      Circle Sport Chevrolet       30.292s  +0.886s
31.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                 30.297s  +0.891s
32.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            30.340s  +0.934s
33.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                 30.386s  +0.980s
34.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               30.425s  +1.019s
35.  JJ Yeley            Baldwin Chevrolet            30.571s  +1.165s
36.  David Reutimann     BK Toyota                    30.597s  +1.191s
37.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford               30.615s  +1.209s
38.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford               30.622s  +1.216s
39.  Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota        30.714s  +1.308s
40.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                    30.733s  +1.327s
41.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 30.816s  +1.410s
42.  Scott Riggs         Xxxtreme Ford                30.832s  +1.426s
43.  Ken Schrader        FAS Lane Ford                31.216s  +1.810s

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