Gordon on pole again at Richmond

Gordon set a time of 21.386 seconds at an average speed of 126.251 mph in the second of his two qualifying laps. That was despite being again one of the early runners, going out 14th in the order.

"I knew it was a good lap but I just thought that early [qualifying] draw was really going to hurt us," said Gordon after claiming his third pole position with the Car of Tomorrow.

"To be able to sit on three poles in a row here on a Superspeedway and two short tracks is phenomenal. I think we had a better race car than we had a qualifying car, so who knows what's going to happen."

The Nextel Cup points leader will effectively start from pole for the sixth time this season as he was also first on the grid at Texas after qualifying was rained out and starting positions were given according to the drivers championship.

Carl Edwards will line up beside Gordon on the front row of the grid, achieving his best qualifying result of the season so far. The Busch Series points leader was a tenth of a second slower than Gordon in his Roush Fenway Ford.

Scott Riggs was an impressive third fastest, having dominated Happy Hour practice, the only one for the Nextel Cup field as the cars will be impounded in their garages until the race. He was also the fastest among those who needed to qualify on time.

His third place in the No. 10 Dodge makes it three different manufacturers in the top-three, while giving him also his best qualifying effort of the year.

Reigning champion Jimmie Johnson will line up fourth on the grid, underlining the strong form of Hendrick Motorsports with the Car of Tomorrow once again. Behind him, a recovering Kasey Kahne was fifth, while sixth was locals' favorite Denny Hamlin.

AJ Allmendinger achieved his best qualifying of the season in 13th, improving nearly four tenths of a second from his best lap during practice. He will make just his third start of the season as the best placed rookie on the grid.

"I was happy with my lap, not so much the first one," Allmendinger said. "The second one was good. It's one of those things that I was so nervous before qualifying but my crew chief, Rick Viers, he's as cool as the other side of the pillow."

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 16th, apparently not taking too many risks in his run, despite improving around two tenths between his first and second laps.

"The whole team has struggled the last few races on the Car of Tomorrow so as a team we needed to improve and I think we have," said Montoya.

"I don't think we're there yet but I had just two clean laps. I was more concerned about getting a clean lap than a fast lap."

Dale Jarrett, who needed to qualify on time for the first time this season, won't be able to make the field as he was slowest of the session and used the last of his six champion's provisionals last weekend at Talladega.

Also failing to make the field were Brian Vickers, Ken Schrader, Michael Waltrip - for the ninth consecutive time - Jeremy Mayfield, Kevin Lepage and Mike Bliss.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   126.251   21.386
 2.  Carl Edwards        Ford        125.657   21.487 + 0.101
 3.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       125.599   21.497 + 0.111
 4.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   125.570   21.502 + 0.116
 5.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       125.546   21.506 + 0.120
 6.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   125.488   21.516 + 0.130
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   125.436   21.525 + 0.139
 8.  Martin Truex Jr.    Chevrolet   125.331   21.543 + 0.157
 9.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet   125.174   21.570 + 0.184
10.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      125.000   21.600 + 0.214
11.  Ricky Rudd          Ford        124.977   21.604 + 0.218
12.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   124.925   21.613 + 0.227
13.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota      124.908   21.616 + 0.230
14.  David Reutimann     Toyota      124.902   21.617 + 0.231
15.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   124.873   21.622 + 0.236
16.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       124.803   21.634 + 0.248
17.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   124.775   21.639 + 0.253
18.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       124.757   21.642 + 0.256
19.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   124.688   21.654 + 0.268
20.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   124.654   21.660 + 0.274
21.  David Stremme       Dodge       124.590   21.671 + 0.285
22.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   124.579   21.673 + 0.287
23.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet   124.573   21.674 + 0.288
24.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet   124.487   21.689 + 0.303
25.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        124.447   21.696 + 0.310
26.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet   124.384   21.707 + 0.321
27.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   124.241   21.732 + 0.346
28.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        124.224   21.735 + 0.349
29.  David Ragan         Ford        124.224   21.735 + 0.349
30.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       124.138   21.750 + 0.364
31.  Johnny Benson       Toyota      124.104   21.756 + 0.370
32.  Greg Biffle         Ford        124.070   21.762 + 0.376
33.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       124.007   21.773 + 0.387
34.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   123.961   21.781 + 0.395
35.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       123.762   21.816 + 0.430
36.  Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet   123.723   21.823 + 0.437
37.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       123.694   21.828 + 0.442
38.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet   123.689   21.829 + 0.443
39.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   123.649   21.836 + 0.450
40.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       123.474   21.867 + 0.481
41.  David Gilliland     Ford        123.462   21.869 + 0.483
42.  Robby Gordon        Ford        122.996   21.952 + 0.566
43.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   124.012   21.772 + 0.386