Kahne edges Montoya for Cup pole

Kahne set a laptime of 16.016 seconds at an average speed of 119.447 mph around the half-mile, newly surfaced oval.

The Gillett Evernham driver, who scored the most pole positions last year, had not been on pole since Las Vegas, back in March this year.

"It felt good and a couple of Dodges on the front row should be good," said Kahne, who won six races last year but has not won any this season.

"Montoya did a good job too, but it feels good. It's a great start to the weekend and we need stuff like this to go on in such a rough season. It feels good to get a pole here."

Juan Pablo Montoya came very close to score his maiden Nextel Cup pole position, setting a lap 16.064, which was a shy 0.048 seconds slower than that of fellow Dodge driver Kahne.

The Colombian matched his best starting position of the year and will see the green flag wave on Saturday night from the front row of the grid as he did a Indianapolis where he finished second, also.

He showed how much progress he is making on his second visit to Bristol, having qualified down in 36th place for the March event.

"I got into the corner too slow and came out sideways," Montoya said. "I knew the second lap wasn't going to be faster. All we practiced in the morning was one lap and that was good. It was a little bit on the loose side and some of the guys were tugging the wheel coming out of four.

"The last time here we started 30-something and we're second right now so it's half-decent, I guess. I've got to be pleased with that."

Both Kahne and Montoya benefited from their late qualifying draws, as did Pepsi 400 winner and rookie David Ragan, who were third and fourth in the grid in their Roush Fenway Fords.

Dave Blaney was fifth for Toyota and was on provisional pole for a while. Carl Edwards was sixth, making it three Roush Fenway cars in the top six, ahead of Ryan Newman and veteran Ricky Rudd in possibly his last start at Bristol.

Reigning Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson emerged as the fastest Chevrolet qualifier in ninth. He will share the fifth row of the grid with the unbranded RCR car of Jeff Burton, as AT&T had to peel off their logos after last week's court ruling in favor of NASCAR.

Scott Riggs was the fastest of those who needed to qualify on speed for the race, lining up 11th on the grid, ahead of two-time event winner at Bristol Matt Kenseth, the slowest qualifier from the Roush Fenway stable.

Kyle Busch, who won the inaugural Car of Tomorrow event at Bristol in March, had been fastest in the opening practice but qualified 20th, behind teammate and March pole-sitter Jeff Gordon, and just behind his brother Kurt Busch, a five-time winner at the the track.

Some of the most disappointed with their qualifying effort were the Joe Gibbs drivers, who led the first race of the year at Bristol. Apparently none of them could come to terms with the new track surface, despite Stewart being upbeat about how smooth it is now.

"I don't think you could ask the track to have done a better job," said Stewart, who qualified 23rd. "It's smooth. To be able to pour concrete and make it as smooth as they did, that's pretty remarkable.

"It's essentially a new race track, so we're all having to re-learn it and try to get used to it and find out what it likes and dislikes."

David Reutimann, Sterling Marlin, Brian Vickers, Kevin Lepage and Stanton Barrett were the five drivers who failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver              Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Kasey Kahne         Dodge       119.805   16.016
 2.  Juan Montoya        Dodge       119.447   16.064 + 0.048
 3.  Jamie McMurray      Ford        119.158   16.103 + 0.087
 4.  David Ragan         Ford        119.143   16.105 + 0.089
 5.  Dave Blaney         Toyota      119.106   16.110 + 0.094
 6.  Carl Edwards        Ford        119.018   16.122 + 0.106
 7.  Ryan Newman         Dodge       119.018   16.122 + 0.106
 8.  Ricky Rudd          Ford        118.922   16.135 + 0.119
 9.  Jimmie Johnson      Chevrolet   118.745   16.159 + 0.143
10.  Jeff Burton         Chevrolet   118.730   16.161 + 0.145
11.  Scott Riggs         Dodge       118.694   16.166 + 0.150
12.  Matt Kenseth        Ford        118.635   16.174 + 0.158
13.  Kevin Harvick       Chevrolet   118.576   16.182 + 0.166
14.  Ward Burton         Chevrolet   118.503   16.192 + 0.176
15.  Clint Bowyer        Chevrolet   118.320   16.217 + 0.201
16.  Michael Waltrip     Toyota      118.262   16.225 + 0.209
17.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Chevrolet   118.189   16.235 + 0.219
18.  Jeff Gordon         Chevrolet   118.174   16.237 + 0.221
19.  Kurt Busch          Dodge       118.102   16.247 + 0.231
20.  Kyle Busch          Chevrolet   118.073   16.251 + 0.235
21.  Elliott Sadler      Dodge       118.051   16.254 + 0.238
22.  Bobby Labonte       Dodge       117.964   16.266 + 0.250
23.  Tony Stewart        Chevrolet   117.841   16.283 + 0.267
24.  Robby Gordon        Ford        117.761   16.294 + 0.278
25.  Martin Truex Jr     Chevrolet   117.674   16.306 + 0.290
26.  Bill Elliott        Ford        117.610   16.315 + 0.299
27.  David Gilliland     Ford        117.588   16.318 + 0.302
28.  John Andretti       Dodge       117.552   16.323 + 0.307
29.  Reed Sorenson       Dodge       117.358   16.350 + 0.334
30.  Casey Mears         Chevrolet   117.336   16.353 + 0.337
31.  Jeremy Mayfield     Toyota      117.322   16.355 + 0.339
32.  Kenny Wallace       Dodge       117.207   16.371 + 0.355
33.  Dale Jarrett        Toyota      117.200   16.372 + 0.356
34.  Greg Biffle         Ford        117.078   16.389 + 0.373
35.  Aric Almirola       Chevrolet   116.986   16.402 + 0.386
36.  David Stremme       Dodge       116.722   16.439 + 0.423
37.  Denny Hamlin        Chevrolet   116.680   16.445 + 0.429
38.  Johnny Sauter       Chevrolet   116.623   16.453 + 0.437
39.  Jeff Green          Chevrolet   116.510   16.469 + 0.453
40.  JJ Yeley            Chevrolet   116.220   16.510 + 0.494
41.  Paul Menard         Chevrolet   116.017   16.539 + 0.523
42.  Tony Raines         Chevrolet   115.982   16.544 + 0.528
43.  AJ Allmendinger     Toyota      117.179   16.375 + 0.359