Gordon takes Martinsville pole

Gordon took his seventh pole at the half-mile oval after setting a lap time of 19.666 seconds at an average speed of 96.288 mph, which was more than a tenth of a second faster than Danny Hamlin's effort.

"I'll be honest with you, it impressed me to run that kind of lap time," Gordon said. "We have been on poles here before and in those runs, you will hit one end of the race track or one section of the race track really good. But it is rare that you ever can put the whole lap together at both ends."

Hamlin, who was on pole at Martinsville a year ago, and lost victory recently at Bristol with a fuel pick up problem in the closing laps, underlined his speed on the short tracks taking the outside spot of the front row of the grid, although he felt there was more in store on his first lap.

"It was a good lap for us," Hamlin said. "Obviously, we were really good in practice we felt like and had some room for adjustment there. I missed my marks on my first lap and that typically was about one-tenth faster than what our second laps were. I felt like we were good."

Aric Almirola, who makes only his second start of the year replacing Mark Martin at the wheel of the No. 8 DEI Chevrolet, took an impressive third on the grid. Roush Fenway's David Ragan was the fastest Ford qualifier, behind him in fourth.

Jamie McMurray was the quickest driver of those having to qualify on speed for Sunday's race, posting the fifth best lap of the session, nearly a tenth and a half off from Gordon's benchmark.

Jimmie Johnson, winner of the last three Sprint Cup series events held at Martinsville qualified tenth, just behind the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyotas of points leader Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart.

Sam Hornish Jr was the fastest rookie qualifier taking 26th on the grid for Sunday. He said he was frustrated by how much he had to wait for the front end of his car to bite in the middle of the corner, so that he could put the power down on the exit.

"The second lap I thought we were much better, just got back to the throttle a little bit too soon and got loose coming off the corner," he said. "Martinsville has been one of my favourite places to come to so far of the places I've been and I just continue to learn as much as I can. I wish I would have waited on it a little bit longer."

Patrick Carpentier made the field for his first race at Martinsville, while Dario Franchitti had a nerve-wracking afternoon, as he was the last car in line to complete his two qualifying laps. In the end it was a happy ending day for the Scot, who will be in the field on Sunday.

"It reminds me of my first Indianapolis 500 qualifying," Franchitti said. "That's what it's like every week. You're up against the best in the business here and unfortunately we're learning right now. It makes it tough but we're in so that's great."

Kyle Petty, John Andretti, Tony Raines and Joe Nemechek were the four entrants who failed to qualify in the tightest grid of the year, with the 43-car field was covered by less than half a second.

Pos Driver           Car           Time       Gap      Speed
 1. Jeff Gordon      Chevrolet     19.666            154.957 
 2. Denny Hamlin     Toyota        19.775  +0.109    154.103 
 3. Aric Almirola    Chevrolet     19.780  +0.114    154.064 
 4. David Ragan      Ford          19.814  +0.148    153.800 
 5. Jamie McMurray   Ford          19.830  +0.164    153.676 
 6. Kasey Kahne      Dodge         19.831  +0.165    153.668 
 7. Ken Schrader     Toyota        19.836  +0.170    153.629 
 8. Kyle Busch       Toyota        19.860  +0.194    153.444 
 9. Tony Stewart     Toyota        19.876  +0.210    153.320 
10. Jimmie Johnson   Chevrolet     19.888  +0.222    153.228 
11. Kevin Harvick    Chevrolet     19.889  +0.223    153.220 
12. Clint Bowyer     Chevrolet     19.889  +0.223    153.220 
13. Ryan Newman      Dodge         19.916  +0.250    153.012 
14. Travis Kvapil    Ford          19.920  +0.254    152.981 
15. David Reutimann  Toyota        19.925  +0.259    152.943 
16. Michael Waltrip  Toyota        19.926  +0.260    152.935 
17. Bill Elliott     Ford          19.943  +0.277    152.805 
18. Dave Blaney      Toyota        19.959  +0.293    152.683 
19. Greg Biffle      Ford          19.960  +0.294    152.675 
20. Kurt Busch       Dodge         19.968  +0.302    152.614 
21. David Gilliland  Ford          19.968  +0.302    152.614 
22. D.Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet     19.981  +0.315    152.514 
23. J.J. Yeley       Toyota        19.993  +0.327    152.423 
24. Jeff Burton      Chevrolet     20.009  +0.343    152.301 
25. Elliott Sadler   Dodge         20.009  +0.343    152.301 
26. Sam Hornish Jr.  Dodge         20.009  +0.343    152.301 
27. Carl Edwards     Ford          20.017  +0.351    152.240 
28. Matt Kenseth     Ford          20.018  +0.352    152.232 
29. J.P.Montoya      Dodge         20.018  +0.352    152.232 
30. Mike Skinner     Toyota        20.025  +0.359    152.179 
31. Jeremy Mayfield  Chevrolet     20.029  +0.363    152.149 
32. Bobby Labonte    Dodge         20.030  +0.364    152.141 
33. Regan Smith      Chevrolet     20.041  +0.375    152.058 
34. Michael McDowell Toyota        20.058  +0.392    151.929 
35. Paul Menard      Chevrolet     20.066  +0.400    151.868 
36. Scott Riggs      Chevrolet     20.078  +0.412    151.778 
37. P.Carpentier     Dodge         20.081  +0.415    151.755 
38. Reed Sorenson    Dodge         20.115  +0.449    151.498 
39. Dario Franchitti Dodge         20.128  +0.462    151.401 
40. Kyle Petty       Dodge         20.128  +0.462    151.401 
41. Casey Mears      Chevrolet     20.152  +0.486    151.220 
42. Brian Vickers    Toyota        20.217  +0.551    150.734 
43. Robby Gordon     Dodge         20.222  +0.556    150.697 
44. Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet     20.225  +0.559    150.674 
45. John Andretti    Chevrolet     20.251  +0.585    150.481 
46. Tony Raines      Dodge         20.261  +0.595    150.407 
47. Joe Nemechek     Chevrolet     20.311  +0.645    150.036