Gordon takes first pole of 2010

The four-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion, who had last won a pole 33 races ago, came out on top during Thursday's qualifying session at the track where he claimed his first career victory back in 1994.

Gordon, currently fourth in the championship standings, beat the previous benchmark set early in the session by Richard Petty's Paul Menard, posting a fastest lap of 28.192 seconds at an average speed of 191.544 mph, which stood unbeaten despite a number of the best drivers from practice going out later in the session.

With practice having run during the day and qualification under the lights, the change in track conditions led to some surprises, including Gordon's lap when nobody else improved their times, earning him a seventh pole at Charlotte - where he last started first back in 2000.

"I'm just shocked," said Gordon after claiming his 69th career pole, which places him third in the all-time ranking, tied with NASCAR legend Cale Yarborough. "If you look at our practice speeds and how hard we were trying to run fast laps... it was actually a blessing that we weren't good in practice today because we were really helping the track come to us.

"Tonight I just wasn't expecting that at all and I'm really happy and excited and it does a lot for us. Here at Charlotte track position is important, confidence is always good and this definitely gives us a lot of that."

Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, whose title bid suffered a major setback at Fontana due to electrical issues, will start beside Gordon from second as Chase contenders locked out the front for the first time in this year's play-off. Both will be looking for their first victory of the season on Saturday night.

AJ Allmendinger continued to show great qualifying speed from Richard Petty Motorsports with third, while Hendrick's Mark Martin and Menard rounded out the top five.

Reigning champion and Chase leader Jimmie Johnson was 10th, while Denny Hamlin and Kevin Harvick ended up on the 12th row of the grid, three ahead of last week's winner Tony Stewart, the lowest qualifier among the title contenders.

Right ahead of the Stewart-Haas driver in 28th place was Hendrick protege Landon Cassill, driving for Phoenix Racing, as the fastest among those having to make the race on qualifying speed.

Six drivers were left out of the field for Saturday's race including Joe Nemechek, Casey Mears, Mike Bliss, Jason Leffler, rookie Kevin Conway and Johnny Sauter.

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time     Gap
 1.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  191.544  28.192s
 2.  Carl Edwards        Ford       191.455  28.205s  + 0.013s
 3.  AJ Allmendinger     Ford       190.921  28.284s  + 0.092s
 4.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  190.914  28.285s  + 0.093s
 5.  Paul Menard         Ford       190.678  28.320s  + 0.128s
 6.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     190.644  28.325s  + 0.133s
 7.  Reed Sorenson       Toyota     190.409  28.360s  + 0.168s
 8.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  190.382  28.364s  + 0.172s
 9.  Elliott Sadler      Ford       190.382  28.364s  + 0.172s
10.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  190.342  28.370s  + 0.178s
11.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  190.322  28.373s  + 0.181s
12.  Joey Logano         Toyota     190.275  28.380s  + 0.188s
13.  Martin Truex Jr     Toyota     190.275  28.380s  + 0.188s
14.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     190.121  28.403s  + 0.211s
15.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      190.101  28.406s  + 0.214s
16.  David Reutimann     Toyota     190.067  28.411s  + 0.219s
17.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       190.007  28.420s  + 0.228s
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  189.813  28.449s  + 0.257s
19.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      189.793  28.452s  + 0.260s
20.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  189.753  28.458s  + 0.266s
21.  Scott Speed         Toyota     189.707  28.465s  + 0.273s
22.  Greg Biffle         Ford       189.607  28.480s  + 0.288s
23.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     189.527  28.492s  + 0.300s
24.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  189.520  28.493s  + 0.301s
25.  Kasey Kahne         Ford       189.494  28.497s  + 0.305s
26.  David Ragan         Ford       189.334  28.521s  + 0.329s
27.  Jamie McMurray      Chevrolet  189.268  28.531s  + 0.339s
28.  Landon Cassill      Chevrolet  189.255  28.533s  + 0.341s
29.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  189.168  28.546s  + 0.354s
30.  Bobby Labonte       Chevrolet  189.023  28.568s  + 0.376s
31.  Brad Keselowski     Dodge      189.010  28.570s  + 0.378s
32.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  188.890  28.588s  + 0.396s
33.  Michael McDowell    Chevrolet  188.871  28.591s  + 0.399s
34.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Chevrolet  188.857  28.593s  + 0.401s
35.  Patrick Carpentier  Ford       188.805  28.601s  + 0.409s
36.  David Gilliland     Ford       188.719  28.614s  + 0.422s
37.  Bill Elliott        Ford       188.232  28.688s  + 0.496s
38.  Andy Lally          Chevrolet  187.669  28.774s  + 0.582s
39.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     187.533  28.795s  + 0.603s
40.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet  187.363  28.821s  + 0.629s
41.  Dave Blaney         Ford       185.484  29.113s  + 0.921s
42.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       185.484  29.113s  + 0.921s
43.  Jeff Green          Toyota     187.305  28.830s  + 0.638s

Did not qualify:

     Joe Nemechek        Toyota     187.214  28.844s  + 0.652s
     Casey Mears         Toyota     186.935  28.887s  + 0.695s
     Mike Bliss          Toyota     186.599  28.939s  + 0.747s
     Jason Leffler       Toyota     185.810  29.062s  + 0.870s
     Kevin Conway        Toyota     185.790  29.065s  + 0.873s
     Johnny Sauter       Toyota     183.561  29.418s  + 1.226s