Gordon takes pole in New Hampshire

Rusty Wallace was the first provisional pole-sitter for the Jiffy Lube 300, and the first driver to break Ken Schrader's 1997 record with a lap around the oval in 29.196 seconds averaging 130.770 mph.

Thirty-four drivers later, Gordon knocked Wallace to the outside of the front row and kept the top spot as he watched the remaining twelve qualifiers try to beat his record lap.

'The car handled real great,' said Wallace. 'The crew said that no one else had been on the track since our last practice session, so I knew I had a shot at getting a good starting position.'

Bobby Labonte appeared to be pleased with his third-fast effort, his 14thtop-10 start this season. 'It's an improvement from practice,' he said. 'Any time you can do that, it's pretty good. I picked up a couple of tenths.'

Ken Schrader turned in a lap identical to Labonte, which secured him fourth on the grid and Kyle Petty was fifth fastest.

Kenny Wallace, John Andretti, Michael Waltrip, Dale Jarrett and Tony Stewart rounded off the top 10 for Sunday's race.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. qualified for his second NASCAR Winston Cup Series event this year and edged out seven-time Series champ (and father) Dale Earnhardt, by just .007 second for the 13th starting slot.

Among drivers who failed to make the top 25 in first round qualifying were Ricky Rudd, Jeremy Mayfield, Mark Martin, Jimmy Spencer, Elliott Sadler, Bobby Hamilton, Geoffrey Bodine, two-time defending Jiffy Lube 300 racewinner Jeff Burton and Bill Elliott.

Full qualifying times: