Vickers snatches Texas pole

Vickers was the fiftieth and final qualifier, at a time when the track was significantly cooler. This allowed the Hendricks Motorsports driver to set the fastest lap of the session, taking his fourth career pole.

Second fastest was Elliot Sadler, with Kurt Busch and Kasey Kahne third and fourth respectively. All four drivers, in fact, managed to break the track's lap record of 194.224, which was set over four years ago by Bill Elliott.

Kahne was also the fastest among the Chase for the Cup contenders, followed by Jimmie Johnson in fifth and Denny Hamlin in sixth.

Points leader Matt Kenseth qualified all the way down in 36th.

Champ Car star AJ Allmendinger, who last week was unable to qualify for his maiden Nextel Cup race at Atlanta after the session was rained out, has failed to qualify today and will again have to wait to make his Cup debut.

Allmendinger set the slowest time of the session, 1.5 seconds behind Vickers' pole time, with a speed of 186.091 mph.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Brian Vickers       Chevrolet   196.235   27.518
 2.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       195.390   27.637 + 0.119
 3.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       194.854   27.713 + 0.195
 4.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       194.812   27.719 + 0.201 C
 5.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   193.833   27.859 + 0.341 C
 6.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   193.562   27.898 + 0.380 C
 7.  David Gilliland     Ford        193.368   27.926 + 0.408
 8.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   193.320   27.933 + 0.415
 9.  Robby Gordon        Chevrolet   193.126   27.961 + 0.443
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet   193.098   27.965 + 0.447 C
11.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   193.071   27.969 + 0.451 C
12.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       192.981   27.982 + 0.464
13.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       192.960   27.985 + 0.467
14.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   192.898   27.994 + 0.476
15.  Carl Edwards        Ford        192.713   28.021 + 0.503
16.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   192.665   28.028 + 0.510
17.  David Stremme       Dodge       192.500   28.052 + 0.534
18.  Ken Schrader        Ford        192.472   28.056 + 0.538
19.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       192.431   28.062 + 0.544
20.  Dale Jarrett        Ford        192.363   28.072 + 0.554
21.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   192.102   28.110 + 0.592 C
22.  Mike Bliss          Dodge       192.089   28.112 + 0.594
23.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   192.082   28.113 + 0.595 C
24.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       191.755   28.161 + 0.643
25.  Casey Mears         Dodge       191.741   28.163 + 0.645
26.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet   191.598   28.184 + 0.666
27.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   191.374   28.217 + 0.699
28.  Mark Martin         Ford        191.354   28.220 + 0.702 C
29.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   191.211   28.241 + 0.723 C
30.  Dave Blaney         Dodge       191.178   28.246 + 0.728
31.  Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet   191.171   28.247 + 0.729
32.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   191.164   28.248 + 0.730
33.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   191.029   28.268 + 0.750
34.  Martin Truex Jr.    Chevrolet   190.867   28.292 + 0.774
35.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       190.860   28.293 + 0.775
36.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        190.712   28.315 + 0.797 C
37.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet   190.644   28.325 + 0.807
38.  Michael Waltrip     Dodge       190.564   28.337 + 0.819
39.  Greg Biffle         Ford        190.040   28.415 + 0.897
40.  Travis Kvapil       Chevrolet   190.040   28.415 + 0.897
41.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   189.860   28.442 + 0.924
42.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        189.241   28.535 + 1.017
43.  Terry Labonte       Chevrolet   Champion's Provisional