Earnhardt Jr on Pocono pole

The rain that spoiled his initial qualifying lap eventually boosted him to pole as he took advantage of the cooler temperatures and the improved grip on the 2.5-mile tri-oval once the track had dried out.

Following his aborted run, Earnhardt was given by NASCAR the chance of a second one when the session resumed after a 45-minute rain interruption. He made the most of it to set a lap of 52.949 seconds at an average speed of 169.975 mph, knocking down Kurt Busch from provisional pole.

"We kind of stole one from them today with the weather, but we'll take it," said Earnhardt Jr after claiming only his seventh Nextel Cup career pole in 276 starts and the first in more than four years.

"The rain cooled the track down and we were able to get some more speed and we did the job. This puts us all in a good attitude, good spirits for practice tomorrow so we can work on the car really hard and come into the race with a good attitude."

Kurt Busch will share the front row with Earnhardt, having dominated practice earlier. Ironically he was bumped from pole by the driver he is racing against in the points, as he currently sits 13th in the standings and just 13 points behind Earnhardt.

"I did the best I could," said Busch. "Really wheeled it hard, drove it in hard and stood on the gas and the car stuck. We're looking for a good run this weekend. Each and every race a bunch of points can swing and change places, so we're looking for a nice, smooth, consistent race."

It could have been an all-Busch front row had it not been for Earnhardt. Before he put his No. 8 car on pole, Kyle Busch was sitting in the outside of the front row for Sunday, but he will instead start the race from third. His effort came close to pole, but not quite.

"Almost, not quite good enough," the younger of the Busch brothers said. "But we've got a pretty good race car for Sunday. We were a little bit behind here last time but I feel like the guys did a really good job and got us caught up a little bit more and it'll be a tough race here come Sunday."

Ryan Newman was fourth rounding up a good day for Penske Racing, ahead of a recovered Kasey Kahne who ran his car with last year's nose as his team tries to go back to their glory days from last season.

Besides Kyle Busch's third place, the rest of the Hendrick Motorsports cars looked good again backing up Jeff Gordon's victory at this venue earlier this year. Behind Pocono master Denny Hamlin, Jimmie Johnson will be starting seventh, Casey Mears eighth and points leader Gordon from eleventh.

Juan Pablo Montoya carried some momentum from his solid run at Indy and put his car ninth on the grid for Sunday's race, far ahead of his 38th-place in qualifying at the same track back in June, showing clear progress on his second visit to Pocono.

"Normally when you do well, you like the place, and when you do bad you hate it, that's the way I look at it," Montoya said. "My first time I came here it was okay. Now we're running good so it's nice. That's the way it works.

"The momentum we've got right now I think is the strength number one, and how the whole team is just working together."

Scott Riggs was fastest of the drivers who needed to qualify on speed ending the session in 16th, while four cars failed to make the field. Mike Bliss, AJ Allmendinger, Kevin Lepage and Kenny Wallace were not quick enough and won't be starting the race on Sunday.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   169.975   52.949
 2.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       169.863   52.984 + 0.035
 3.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   169.783   53.009 + 0.060
 4.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       169.738   53.023 + 0.074
 5.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       169.587   53.070 + 0.121
 6.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   169.501   53.097 + 0.148
 7.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   169.322   53.153 + 0.204
 8.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   169.268   53.170 + 0.221
 9.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       168.916   53.281 + 0.332
10.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       168.643   53.367 + 0.418
11.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   168.451   53.428 + 0.479
12.  Greg Biffle         Ford        168.438   53.432 + 0.483
13.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   168.300   53.476 + 0.527
14.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       168.237   53.496 + 0.547
15.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   168.070   53.549 + 0.600
16.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       167.942   53.590 + 0.641
17.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   167.923   53.596 + 0.647
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   167.917   53.598 + 0.649
19.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      167.863   53.615 + 0.666
20.  Ricky Rudd          Ford        167.788   53.639 + 0.690
21.  Bill Elliott        Ford        167.785   53.640 + 0.691
22.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        167.607   53.697 + 0.748
23.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   167.417   53.758 + 0.809
24.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   167.324   53.788 + 0.839
25.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   167.258   53.809 + 0.860
26.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       167.218   53.822 + 0.873
27.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet   167.156   53.842 + 0.893
28.  Brian Vickers       Toyota      167.053   53.875 + 0.926
29.  Carl Edwards        Ford        167.035   53.881 + 0.932
30.  Robby Gordon        Ford        166.942   53.911 + 0.962
31.  David Reutimann     Toyota      166.722   53.982 + 1.033
32.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   166.688   53.993 + 1.044
33.  David Gilliland     Ford        166.587   54.026 + 1.077
34.  David Stremme       Dodge       166.257   54.133 + 1.184
35.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   166.064   54.196 + 1.247
36.  David Ragan         Ford        165.886   54.254 + 1.305
37.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        165.767   54.293 + 1.344
38.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet   165.596   54.349 + 1.400
39.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      165.584   54.353 + 1.404
40.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota      165.578   54.355 + 1.406
41.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   165.560   54.361 + 1.412
42.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       164.558   54.692 + 1.743
43.  Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota      165.542   54.367 + 1.418

Did not qualify:

44.  Mike Bliss          Dodge       165.496   54.382 + 1.433
45.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota      164.681   54.651 + 1.702
46.  Kevin Lepage        Dodge       163.690   54.982 + 2.033
47.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   162.297   55.454 + 2.505