Gordon takes Cup pole at Martinsville

The current points leader had been quickest in the shortened practice session in the morning and backed that up with a great qualifying lap of 19.94 seconds, which will see him start from pole position for the sixth time in his career at the half-mile oval. He will be in the best possible spot to attempt to get his third consecutive win on Sunday.

"This track is a tough one, you've got to attack but you can't over- attack it," said Gordon after claiming his 63rd career pole. "In that first lap I over-attacked it and I thought we gave up our chance for the pole today but I was able to pull it back on that second lap and kind of calm down.

"I'm just having a blast out there on the race track. Getting the chance to drive this type of equipment is a dream come true for every race-car driver. Fifteen seasons into it is a lot of fun to know that you can still get out there and get it done. Just a great year that we're having, and a lot of racing left to go though."

Four of the twelve Chase contenders took the top-four starting positions, but Gordon and DEI's Martin Truex Jr were the only two able to lap below the 20-second mark in a very tight qualifying where the top-seven were all covered by less than one tenth of a second.

Kevin Harvick was third and Jimmie Johnson, who has won the last two events held at Martinsville, will start from the second row of the grid ahead of Kasey Kahne, who was fastest of the non-Chasers rounding up the top-five.

Kyle Busch was sixth ahead of Dale Earnhardt Jr, who is hard seeking his first victory of the season in his last season with DEI.

JJ Yeley was a surprise eighth and fastest among the Joe Gibbs drivers who were both outside the top-30.

The rest of the Chase contenders qualified in the middle of the field, with Kurt Busch 11th fastest, Jeff Burton 18th and Carl Edwards 20th just ahead of Clint Bowyer who is currently third in the points.

He was the slowest of those who are still really in contention for the title and was hoping for more rain in qualifying to be able to start further ahead in his championship position. However, despite some late low cloud cover, the track remained dry and the session was completed.

Dave Blaney was again the fastest Toyota in qualifying and AJ Allmendinger was able to get in the race again while his more experienced teammate Brian Vickers, was unable to do so for the second week in a row. Allmendinger has made the field for all six short-track events of the season.

In contrast, Ward Burton bumped Sam Hornish Jr out of the field in the last minute when the IRL and Indy 500 champion was looking set to finally make his Nextel Cup debut. This is the fifth time he has to head back home on Friday.

Joe Nemechek, Brian Vickers, Jeremy Mayfield and Kevin Lepage all failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed    Time
 1.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   94.974   19.938
 2.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   94.737   19.988 + 0.05
 3.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   94.685   19.999 + 0.061
 4.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   94.618   20.013 + 0.075
 5.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       94.585   20.020 + 0.082
 6.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   94.562   20.025 + 0.087
 7.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   94.557   20.026 + 0.088
 8.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet   94.496   20.039 + 0.101
 9.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        94.444   20.050 + 0.112
10.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   94.369   20.066 + 0.128
11.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       94.359   20.068 + 0.130
12.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       94.340   20.072 + 0.134
13.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   94.284   20.084 + 0.146
14.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       94.223   20.097 + 0.159
15.  John Andretti       Dodge       94.204   20.101 + 0.163
16.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       94.148   20.113 + 0.175
17.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      94.115   20.120 + 0.182
18.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   94.087   20.126 + 0.188
19.  David Reutimann     Toyota      94.083   20.127 + 0.189
20.  Carl Edwards        Ford        94.069   20.130 + 0.192
21.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   94.031   20.138 + 0.200
22.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   93.975   20.150 + 0.212
23.  Ricky Rudd          Ford        93.975   20.150 + 0.212
24.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        93.882   20.170 + 0.232
25.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota      93.859   20.175 + 0.237
26.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       93.826   20.182 + 0.244
27.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet   93.817   20.184 + 0.246
28.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       93.817   20.184 + 0.246
29.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      93.817   20.184 + 0.246
30.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   93.812   20.185 + 0.247
31.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   93.719   20.205 + 0.267
32.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       93.715   20.206 + 0.268
33.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota      93.627   20.225 + 0.287
34.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   93.553   20.241 + 0.303
35.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   93.451   20.263 + 0.325
36.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet   93.414   20.271 + 0.333
37.  Greg Biffle         Ford        93.354   20.284 + 0.346
38.  David Stremme       Dodge       92.988   20.364 + 0.426
39.  Robby Gordon        Ford        92.869   20.390 + 0.452
40.  David Gilliland     Ford        92.801   20.405 + 0.467
41.  David Ragan         Ford        92.615   20.446 + 0.508
42.  Kyle Petty          Dodge       92.429   20.487 + 0.549
43.  Bill Elliott        Ford        Champion's Provisional