Bristol qualifying: Martin ends drought

Martin claimed the pole with a fast lap of 126.303 miles per hour in a Roush Racing Ford Taurus. It was the seventh time he has won a pole at the 0.533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway and the 40th pole of his career. His seventh Bristol pole ties Rusty Wallace among active NASCAR Winston Cup drivers.

"My record of late has not been a cause for motivation, but you can believe it's been a big cause for exuberance to get back here," said Martin, who won just one Winston Cup race and no poles last season.

Sterling Marlin qualified second in a Dodge at 125.387 miles per hour, followed by rookie Kevin Harvick's 125.354mph in a Chevrolet, Wallace's 125.166 mph in a Ford and Todd Bodine's 124.946 mph in a Ford.

It was Martin's first pole since Rockingham in 1999, a span of 42 races.

"It feels like it used to feel," Martin said. "There have been some reports that there is trouble in paradise on our team, but the only trouble is we haven't been finishing as well as we would have liked. But my bond with team owner Jack Roush is as strong as it's ever been and crew chief Jimmy Fennig and I are tight."

Martin had the fastest car in Friday practice session and was able to maintain that speed in qualifying when he was among the last drivers to make his attempt.

Wallace swept both poles at Bristol last year, but Martin was able to regain the form that he had at the high-banked short track in 1998.

"If you look back to 1998, I think we sat on four poles in a row here," Martin said. "Rusty may have had the most poles here, but because we didn't manage to win a pole last year didn't mean we couldn't be a contender on occasion. We've had good qualifying here for a long, long time."

Marlin's qualifying time was good enough to give the Columbia, Tennessee native a starting spot on the outside of the front row.

"We came and tested last week and felt we had a real good car," Marlin said. "Mark was just a little quicker than we were all day. I figured he was going to be tough to beat."

Click here for the qualifying results.