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David Reutimann takes NASCAR Sprint Cup pole at Richmond

David Reutimann claimed his fourth NASCAR Sprint Cup career pole in qualifying for Saturday's race at Richmond

The Michael Waltrip Racing driver knocked Earnhardt Ganassi's Jamie McMurray from provisional pole with a best time of 21.196 seconds at an average speed of 127.383 mph. Reutimann had been among the top 10 in the first practice, then was not one of the top runners in the final session of the day, but despite that his benchmark went unbeaten through to the end of qualifying.

"This is our first pole here and the first pole in a while for us," said Reutimann. "We went from getting a couple a year to it being a little while. It's been a dry spell for us so it feels good. Things haven't gone quite the way we wanted them to this year, but we're working hard to get things turned around and I think what you're seeing is a direct result of some of the stuff that we're doing different."

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson - one of many running commemorative paint schemes to mark the 10th anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks - showed great consistency in final practice and secured a spot on the second row of the grid beside his Hendrick Motorsports team-mate Mark Martin. Richard Childress Racing's Clint Bowyer, who still has an outside chance of entering title contention, was fifth and among the fastest in both practice sessions.

In a good session for RCR, Jeff Burton and Kevin Harvick were sixth and seventh ahead of Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards, Richard Petty's AJ Allmendinger (who is 13th in the points so on the cusp of a potential Chase spot) and Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya.

Joe Gibbs Racing's cars, which have won the past five races at Richmond, were 13th with Kyle Busch, 16th with Joey Logano while Denny Hamlin only 28th as he hopes to hang on to the final wildcard spot for the Chase.

Tony Stewart, 10th in the points entering the final race of the regular season, was 22nd fastest and needs only an 18th-place finish to secure his place in the play-off. Dale Earnhardt Jr, who needs a 20th place on Saturday night to return to Chase contention, will start from 27th.

"I don't remember what it's like to qualify in the top four here," said Stewart. "It's definitely a lot harder. In the spring race here we qualified in the back and got a lap down early and never could recover from it. But I think we've got a car that runs well... Hopefully, we'll get a lot of long, green-flag runs tomorrow night."

David Stremme was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 26th while Mike Skinner, Erik Darnell and TJ Bell failed to qualify.

                                             
Pos  Driver              Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  David Reutimann     Waltrip Toyota               21.196s
 2.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  21.204s  + 0.008s
 3.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet           21.224s  + 0.028s
 4.  Mark Martin         Hendrick Chevrolet           21.246s  + 0.050s
 5.  Clint Bowyer        Childress Chevrolet          21.258s  + 0.062s
 6.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet          21.261s  + 0.065s
 7.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet          21.297s  + 0.101s
 8.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford            21.309s  + 0.113s
 9.  AJ Allmendinger     Petty Ford                   21.311s  + 0.115s
10.  Juan Pablo Montoya  Earnhardt Ganassi Chevrolet  21.313s  + 0.117s
11.  Kurt Busch          Penske Dodge                 21.316s  + 0.120s
12.  Kasey Kahne         Red Bull Toyota              21.323s  + 0.127s
13.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                 21.325s  + 0.129s
14.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford            21.326s  + 0.130s
15.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet          21.350s  + 0.154s
16.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                 21.353s  + 0.157s
17.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet           21.366s  + 0.170s
18.  Ryan Newman         Stewart Haas Chevrolet       21.366s  + 0.170s
19.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                 21.382s  + 0.186s
20.  David Ragan         Roush Fenway Ford            21.387s  + 0.191s
21.  Landon Cassill      Phoenix Chevrolet            21.387s  + 0.191s
22.  Tony Stewart        Stewart Haas Chevrolet       21.393s  + 0.197s
23.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet      21.397s  + 0.201s
24.  Brian Vickers       Red Bull Toyota              21.403s  + 0.207s
25.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford            21.413s  + 0.217s
26.  David Stremme       Inception Chevrolet          21.417s  + 0.221s
27.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet           21.425s  + 0.229s
28.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                 21.431s  + 0.235s
29.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota               21.456s  + 0.260s
30.  Casey Mears         Germain Toyota               21.477s  + 0.281s
31.  Michael McDowell    HP Toyota                    21.499s  + 0.303s
32.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota         21.513s  + 0.317s
33.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                   21.526s  + 0.330s
34.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet            21.526s  + 0.330s
35.  Travis Kvapil       Front Row Ford               21.560s  + 0.364s
36.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford               21.576s  + 0.380s
37.  Robby Gordon        Gordon Dodge                 21.615s  + 0.419s
38.  Andy Lally          TRG Chevrolet                21.651s  + 0.455s
39.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                 21.669s  + 0.473s
40.  Stephen Leicht      Baldwin Chevrolet            21.670s  + 0.474s
41.  Scott Speed         Whitney Ford                 21.718s  + 0.522s
42.  Mike Bliss          FAS Lane Ford                21.805s  + 0.609s
43.  JJ Yeley            Front Row Ford               21.733s  + 0.537s

Did not qualify:

     Mike Skinner        Germain Chevrolet            21.917s  + 0.721s
     Erik Darnell        Max Q Ford                   22.138s  + 0.942s
     TJ Bell             LTD Chevrolet                22.250s  + 1.054s

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