Carpentier takes first Cup pole

The Canadian made the most of the improved track conditions thanks to a rain delay that halted the session for nearly two hours after more than half the field had already completed their runs and while points leader Kyle Busch was on the track.

Carpentier, with a lap of 29.349 seconds and an average speed of 129.776 mph, became the first rookie to claim pole for a Sprint Cup race since Denny Hamlin did so at Richmond in 2006.

The Las Vegas resident takes pole in what is just his first stock car race at the one-mile oval.

"It's the biggest thing in my career by far," said an emotional Carpentier, who had a long Champ Car career and also raced in the IRL IndyCar Series before coming to NASCAR. "I want to stay here. I lived in the US for a long time and my kids are born here. We go back and forth to Montreal to the US and this is what I want to do.

"I've always enjoyed it since I've been here, I love driving these cars and I realised I never really enjoyed the other things I did before. For me, that's where I want to be and to get a pole today is the biggest thing in my career because I enjoy driving these things, so that's great."

Bobby Labonte also claimed his best qualifying effort of the year - taking second on the grid for Sunday's race and making it a Dodge one-two in qualifying. He also completed his run following the rain interruption and admitted that the improved track conditions played their part.

"After the rain delay, the track had cooled off so that helped us out," Labonte said. "We were the sixth car on the racetrack after that. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think it was going to be that fast with the track conditions what they were, so we're excited to get a good lap in and get a good starting spot."

Kevin Harvick had been quickest in practice and backed that up with his best qualifying effort of the season thus far, although he was caught out with the track conditions following the rain and made slight contact with the wall during his run.

Scott Riggs also claimed his and his team's best starting position of the season with fourth place, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr and Ganassi's Reed Sorenson, who was fastest among the drivers who ran before the rain delay.

Dario Franchitti was another one with reason to celebrate as he earned his best qualifying result of the year with seventh place on the grid, recovering from the disappointment of failing to qualify a week ago at Sonoma.

"I think with it cooling down, it certainly helped," the Scot said. "Our Guitar Hero Dodge has been good all day off the truck this morning. I left a little bit on the table off the corners - the left front (tire) was really getting up in the air.

"I didn't quite know if the car was getting off the corner, so we could have gone a little faster. I happy with today's progress for sure."

Tony Raines and Australian Marcos Ambrose, who was attempting to make his first Cup race on an oval, failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver              Car        Speed    Time
 1.  Patrick Carpentier  Dodge      129.776  29.349
 2.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      129.059  29.512  + 0.163
 3.  Scott Riggs         Chevrolet  128.976  29.531  + 0.182
 4.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  128.976  29.531  + 0.182
 5.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  128.885  29.552  + 0.203
 6.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      128.828  29.565  + 0.216
 7.  Dario Franchitti    Dodge      128.824  29.566  + 0.217
 8.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  128.645  29.607  + 0.258
 9.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       128.624  29.612  + 0.263
10.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota     128.624  29.612  + 0.263
11.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      128.576  29.623  + 0.274
12.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     128.498  29.641  + 0.292
13.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       128.459  29.650  + 0.301
14.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      128.424  29.658  + 0.309
15.  Greg Biffle         Ford       128.415  29.660  + 0.311
16.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      128.385  29.667  + 0.318
17.  Carl Edwards        Ford       128.337  29.678  + 0.329
18.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  128.299  29.687  + 0.338
19.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  128.273  29.693  + 0.344
20.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      128.251  29.698  + 0.349
21.  Travis Kvapil       Ford       128.117  29.729  + 0.380
22.  Robby Gordon        Dodge      128.057  29.743  + 0.394
23.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  128.048  29.745  + 0.396
24.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  127.984  29.760  + 0.411
25.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  127.872  29.786  + 0.437
26.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      127.859  29.789  + 0.440
27.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     127.782  29.807  + 0.458
28.  Tony Stewart        Toyota     127.731  29.819  + 0.470
29.  David Reutimann     Toyota     127.722  29.821  + 0.472
30.  JJ Yeley            Toyota     127.662  29.835  + 0.486
31.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  127.649  29.838  + 0.489
32.  Juan Montoya        Dodge      127.56   29.859  + 0.510
33.  David Gilliland     Ford       127.444  29.886  + 0.537
34.  Terry Labonte       Dodge      127.397  29.897  + 0.548
35.  David Ragan         Ford       127.312  29.917  + 0.568
36.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota     126.981  29.995  + 0.646
37.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet  126.964  29.999  + 0.650
38.  Michael McDowell    Toyota     126.846  30.027  + 0.678
39.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet  126.648  30.074  + 0.725
40.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     126.572  30.092  + 0.743
41.  Dave Blaney         Toyota     126.374  30.139  + 0.790
42.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet  126.148  30.193  + 0.844
43.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  126.391  30.135  + 0.786

Did not qualify:

     Driver              Car        Speed    Time
     Tony Raines         Chevrolet  126.307  30.155  + 0.806
     Marcos Ambrose      Ford       125.422  30.368  + 1.019