Gordon takes Talladega Cup pole

Gordon was the first car on track for qualifying, setting a fastest lap of 49.857 seconds at an average speed of 192.069 mph. His lap was later matched by Daytona pole-sitter David Gilliland, who will share the front row with him.

"I'm very excited, we had never won a pole here at Talladega," said Gordon.

"I wasn't really expecting it today. I knew we had a great race car that we were working on yesterday, but we didn't make any qualifying runs and I really expected some guys to beat us.

"This is Talladega and anybody can win the race from any position on the grid. It's great to start up front but that certainly is not going to guarantee anything."

Gilliland, who started from pole at this track last year in the autumn event, was able to replicate his form from Daytona in the No.38 Yates Ford Fusion, underlining the good power his car has under the hood.

Robert Yates Racing teammate Ricky Rudd, who was also on the front row at the restrictor plate season-opener rounded up the top five behind the Chevrolets of Denny Hamlin and two-time Talladega winner Sterling Marlin.

Kenny Wallace was the fastest among the drivers who needed to make the field based on their qualifying speed and will line up sixth on the starting grid. Also making the field and starting together from the fifth row will be Evernham's Scott Riggs and Boris Said.

David Reutimann emerged as the fastest Toyota in 14th, bumping boss Michael Waltrip out of the field in the last minute despite running the 20th fastest speed of the session. Jeremy Mayfield also made the cut in his Bill Davis Racing Camry and will start from 18th.

Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 26th for his Nextel Cup debut at Talladega, and shrugged off the result which he claims will be meaningless once the drafting starts in tomorrow's race.

"It's qualifying. It doesn't say anything, does it?" Montoya said. "It doesn't mean anything here. We'll wait and see what happens. I think we've got a decent car. It's an impound race and you want to have a good race car. It doesn't matter where you start."

Jeff Burton, who runs second in the points, had his worst qualifying of the year and will start the race from the last row of the grid.

Dale Jarrett was slowest of all 52 cars that qualified, but will take the last spot on the grid again using his last available provisional of the year. From the next race onwards he will have to make the field based on his qualifying speed.

Nine drivers failed to qualify, including Waltrip, both the Red Bull cars of Brian Vickers - last year's fall event winner at Talladega - and A.J. Allmendinger, plus the the No. 22 entry of Dave Blaney, who qualified second for today's Busch event.

Ken Schrader, Mike Wallace, Kevin Lepage, John Andretti and Mike Bliss will also go home without making the race.

Qualifying times:

Pos  Driver              Make       Time
 1.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  49.857
 2.  David Gilliland     Ford       49.857
 3.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet  49.992  + 0.135
 4.  Sterling Marlin     Chevrolet  50.130  + 0.273
 5.  Ricky Rudd          Ford       50.156  + 0.299
 6.  Kenny Wallace       Chevrolet  50.160  + 0.303
 7.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  50.192  + 0.335
 8.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  50.200  + 0.343
 9.  Scott Riggs         Dodge      50.277  + 0.420
10.  Boris Said          Ford       50.296  + 0.439
11.  David Ragan         Ford       50.296  + 0.439
12.  Greg Biffle         Ford       50.319  + 0.462
13.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet  50.338  + 0.481
14.  David Reutimann     Toyota     50.346  + 0.489
15.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet  50.353  + 0.496
16.  Carl Edwards        Ford       50.357  + 0.500
17.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       50.360  + 0.503
18.  Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota     50.374  + 0.517
19.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet  50.379  + 0.522
20.  David Stremme       Dodge      50.407  + 0.550
21.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet  50.416  + 0.559
22.  Regan Smith         Chevrolet  50.457  + 0.600
23.  Kyle Petty          Dodge      50.476  + 0.619
24.  Juan Montoya        Dodge      50.489  + 0.632
25.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       50.496  + 0.639
26.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      50.497  + 0.640
27.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet  50.507  + 0.650
28.  Ryan Newman         Dodge      50.552  + 0.695
29.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      50.607  + 0.750
30.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      50.684  + 0.827
31.  J.J. Yeley          Chevrolet  50.701  + 0.844
32.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  50.754  + 0.897
33.  Joe Nemechek        Chevrolet  50.803  + 0.946
34.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet  50.815  + 0.958
35.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge      50.822  + 0.965
36.  Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Chevrolet  50.831  + 0.974
37.  Martin Truex Jr.    Chevrolet  50.836  + 0.979
38.  Robby Gordon        Ford       50.854  + 0.997
39.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      51.123  + 1.266
40.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  51.181  + 1.324
41.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  51.241  + 1.384
42.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  51.324  + 1.467
43.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota     51.581  + 1.724

Did not qualify:

     Michael Waltrip     Toyota
     Brian Vickers       Toyota
     Dave Blaney         Toyota
     A.J.Allmendinger    Toyota
     Ken Schrader        Ford
     Mike Wallace        Dodge
     Kevin Lepage        Chevrolet
     John Andretti       Dodge
     Mike Bliss          Dodge