Gordon claims Dover Cup pole

The four-time Sprint Cup champion was the fastest driver all day at the 'Monster Mile', dominating practice and then improving in qualifying to beat future teammate Mark Martin by just a thousandth of a second.

"It all starts on Friday here at Dover," said Gordon, who currently ranks eleventh in the Chase. "Getting a good qualifying run and a good pit stall location is key to keep yourself out of trouble if you can get that number one pit stall. We will start working on our race stuff tomorrow.

"We looked at the weather and it looks pretty good. We went and tested at Kentucky this week and we are hoping some of that stuff might pay off for us. We feel like it will for us at Kansas but we hope it will for us here at Dover as well."

Martin completed his run a few minutes after Gordon and just missed pole by the slightest of margins. The 49-year-old matched his best qualifying of the season and was the only driver besides Gordon to lap below the 29-second mark.

"Gosh, I don't think I'm not sure I lost anything," Martin said about his lap. "I think when I was out there, I gave it everything I could. We went incredibly fast and we didn't get it done. It is a great racecar to drive.

"I just have a blast coming to the race track and driving this car. It has been a great day and I am looking forward to a great weekend."

Denny Hamlin ran right after Gordon and was beaten by Martin to the front row, ending up third fastest and best among the Joe Gibbs Toyotas. Despite that, he was happy to be starting closer to the front, following many weeks of poor qualifying efforts.

"We definitely didn't qualify that fast and we've qualifyied terrible all year long so no matter where we end up in the top-10 I'm sure it will be better than what we've been qualifying this year," Hamlin said.

"This is what we needed. We've worked so hard on qualifying today and it's paid off."

Rounding up the top five were Kurt Busch and Loudon winner Greg Biffle. Behind him was Clint Bowyer, while the Fords of David Gilliland, Matt Kenseth and Jamie McMurray followed, ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr in tenth.

Spring race winner at Dover Kyle Busch was eleventh fastest but believes his car is far better in race trim, looking forward to Sunday's race where he hopes to recover from the tough start to his Chase a week ago.

"Our race trim is pretty good," said Busch. "We felt real good with that. Qualifying trim just didn't act to where we wanted it to. We'll work on it here tomorrow, and try to make race trim a little better."

Points leader Carl Edwards was 22nd fastest, while Jimmie Johnson couldn't match his pace from practice where he was just as fast as Gordon. The reigning champion qualified 20th, ahead of title contender Jeff Burton, while worst among the 'Chasers' was Tony Stewart in 33rd.

Patrick Carpentier was the fastest rookie qualifier in 17th, while Australian Marcos Ambrose will make his fourth Sprint Cup series start on an oval from 29th place on the grid in the Wood Brothers Ford.

Bobby Labonte was third slowest of the session but made the field thanks to his placing in the owners' standing, while Chad Chaffin, Johnny Sauter and Stanton Barrett will not be on the grid for Sunday's race.

Pos  Driver               Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet   157.061   22.921
 2.  Mark Martin          Chevrolet   157.054   22.922 + 0.001
 3.  Denny Hamlin         Toyota      156.515   23.001 + 0.080
 4.  Kurt Busch           Dodge       156.379   23.021 + 0.100
 5.  Greg Biffle          Ford        156.284   23.035 + 0.114
 6.  Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet   155.676   23.125 + 0.204
 7.  David Gilliland      Ford        155.615   23.134 + 0.213
 8.  Matt Kenseth         Ford        155.541   23.145 + 0.224
 9.  Jamie McMurray       Ford        155.514   23.149 + 0.228
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr    Chevrolet   155.501   23.151 + 0.230
11.  Kyle Busch           Toyota      155.501   23.151 + 0.230
12.  Elliott Sadler       Dodge       155.434   23.161 + 0.240
13.  Tony Raines          Chevrolet   155.226   23.192 + 0.271
14.  David Reutimann      Toyota      155.179   23.199 + 0.278
15.  Travis Kvapil        Ford        155.166   23.201 + 0.280
16.  Martin Truex Jr      Chevrolet   155.132   23.206 + 0.285
17.  Patrick Carpentier   Dodge       155.099   23.211 + 0.290
18.  Brian Vickers        Toyota      155.092   23.212 + 0.291
19.  Ryan Newman          Dodge       155.045   23.219 + 0.298
20.  Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet   154.992   23.227 + 0.306
21.  Jeff Burton          Chevrolet   154.959   23.232 + 0.311
22.  Carl Edwards         Ford        154.912   23.239 + 0.318
23.  David Ragan          Ford        154.899   23.241 + 0.320
24.  Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet   154.892   23.242 + 0.321
25.  Sam Hornish Jr       Dodge       154.766   23.261 + 0.340
26.  Regan Smith          Chevrolet   154.739   23.265 + 0.344
27.  Joe Nemechek         Chevrolet   154.646   23.279 + 0.358
28.  Michael McDowell     Toyota      154.427   23.312 + 0.391
29.  Marcos Ambrose       Ford        154.414   23.314 + 0.393
30.  A.J. Allmendinger    Toyota      154.407   23.315 + 0.394
31.  Casey Mears          Chevrolet   154.334   23.326 + 0.405
32.  Scott Riggs          Chevrolet   153.826   23.403 + 0.482
33.  Tony Stewart         Toyota      153.780   23.410 + 0.489
34.  Paul Menard          Chevrolet   153.708   23.421 + 0.500
35.  Juan Montoya         Dodge       153.512   23.451 + 0.530
36.  Kasey Kahne          Dodge       153.492   23.454 + 0.533
37.  Dave Blaney          Toyota      153.289   23.485 + 0.564
38.  Kyle Petty           Dodge       153.211   23.497 + 0.576
39.  Reed Sorenson        Dodge       153.029   23.525 + 0.604
40.  Michael Waltrip      Toyota      152.691   23.577 + 0.656
41.  Robby Gordon         Dodge       151.860   23.706 + 0.785
42.  Bobby Labonte        Dodge       151.045   23.834 + 0.913
43.  Ken Schrader         Toyota      153.074   23.518 + 0.597