Johnson claims Watkins Glen pole

The reigning Sprint Cup Series champion set a time of 71.340 seconds at an average speed of 123.633 mph, beating Penske's Busch by just eight thousandths of a second to claim his second career pole position at a road course event.

"It means a lot to get this pole," said Johnson. "We worked real hard to get this car handling like it is. We were good in practice and had fewer problems than anybody else and put in a very good lap.

"I'm proud of the team, I like the great view from up front, got good track position and hopefully we can keep all that and make the most of it."

Busch was left pondering what might have been after being fastest in practice by nearly half a second. He ran a "conservative" lap losing massively in the heaving braking zones, something that he reckons just handed Johnson a pole that should have been his.

"I looked at Denny Hamlin who was second quick in practice and saw the lap time that he ran and that just told me to run a bit conservative," said a disappointed Busch. "I stepped over the line and I just felt like we were a bit too conservative. Johnson snuck in there and got the pole."

The last time the series raced on a road course back in June at Infineon Raceway, Johnson tapped Busch into a spin and out of contention. Following that, the pair had a further incident at Chicagoland and they will now get to fight it out between them into Turn 1 at the start of Sunday's race.

Pocono winner Denny Hamlin matched his best qualifying result of the year with third, while Australian Marcos Ambrose, who finished third a year ago at the track, emerged as fourth fastest in an all-Toyota second row.

David Stremme rounded out the top five, backing up a strong showing from Penske Racing. Sam Hornish, in the third car from the team, looked capable of matching his team-mates but ran off the track during his lap at the bus-stop chicane.

Points leader Tony Stewart, a four-time winner at Watkins Glen, was 13th fastest, which gives him the worst starting position ever at the track.

Similarly, Jeff Gordon - also a four-time winner at the venue - and Mark Martin, a three-time winner, will see the green flag wave from the deepest in the field they have ever been at the Glen.

Andy Lally impressed on his Sprint Cup Series qualifying debut, posting a top-15 effort at the wheel of his TRG Chevrolet, which ranked as second best among the non-guaranteed drivers, only beaten by road-course specialist Boris Said.

Some drivers in contention for a place among the top-twelve in the standings qualified way back in the field, like Clint Bowyer who ranked 38th trying to recover after losing most of the morning practice due to an off-track excursion that left him trapped in the gravel.

Matt Kenseth also had a tough qualifying session, ranking only 42nd ahead of Tony Ave, who made the field for what will be just his second Sprint Cup series start.

Meanwhile Joe Nemechek, Brian Simo and David Gilliland all failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver              Make       Speed     Time
 1.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet  123.633   1:11.340
 2.  Kurt Busch          Dodge      123.619   1:11.348 + 0.008
 3.  Denny Hamlin        Toyota     123.093   1:11.653 + 0.313
 4.  Marcos Ambrose      Toyota     123.045   1:11.681 + 0.341
 5.  David Stremme       Dodge      122.824   1:11.810 + 0.470
 6.  Ryan Newman         Chevrolet  122.652   1:11.911 + 0.571
 7.  Greg Biffle         Ford       122.519   1:11.989 + 0.649
 8.  Kyle Busch          Toyota     122.514   1:11.992 + 0.652
 9.  Boris Said          Ford       122.495   1:12.003 + 0.663
10.  Juan Montoya        Chevrolet  122.081   1:12.247 + 0.907
11.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet  122.039   1:12.272 + 0.932
12.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge      121.872   1:12.371 + 1.031
13.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet  121.864   1:12.376 + 1.036
14.  Paul Menard         Ford       121.759   1:12.438 + 1.098
15.  Andy Lally          Chevrolet  121.722   1:12.460 + 1.120
16.  Max Papis           Toyota     121.654   1:12.501 + 1.161
17.  Patrick Carpentier  Toyota     121.509   1:12.587 + 1.247
18.  AJ Allmendinger     Dodge      121.427   1:12.636 + 1.296
19.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge      121.377   1:12.666 + 1.326
20.  Brian Vickers       Toyota     121.359   1:12.677 + 1.337
21.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet  121.315   1:12.703 + 1.363
22.  Robby Gordon        Toyota     121.284   1:12.722 + 1.382
23.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet  121.279   1:12.725 + 1.385
24.  Jamie McMurray      Ford       121.254   1:12.740 + 1.400
25.  David Reutimann     Toyota     121.247   1:12.744 + 1.404
26.  Scott Speed         Toyota     121.186   1:12.781 + 1.441
27.  Bobby Labonte       Ford       121.117   1:12.822 + 1.482
28.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge      121.109   1:12.827 + 1.487
29.  Mark Martin         Chevrolet  121.109   1:12.827 + 1.487
30.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet  121.071   1:12.850 + 1.510
31.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet  121.046   1:12.865 + 1.525
32.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet  121.009   1:12.887 + 1.547
33.  Carl Edwards        Ford       120.993   1:12.897 + 1.557
34.  John Andretti       Chevrolet  120.848   1:12.984 + 1.644
35.  Joey Logano         Toyota     120.839   1:12.990 + 1.650
36.  Sam Hornish Jr      Dodge      120.615   1:13.125 + 1.785
37.  Ron Fellows         Chevrolet  120.581   1:13.146 + 1.806
38.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet  120.465   1:13.216 + 1.876
39.  PJ Jones            Toyota     120.416   1:13.246 + 1.906
40.  David Ragan         Ford       120.088   1:13.446 + 2.106
41.  Dave Blaney         Toyota     119.900   1:13.561 + 2.221
42.  Matt Kenseth        Ford       119.858   1:13.587 + 2.247
43.  Tony Ave            Dodge      119.786   1:13.631 + 2.291