Mayfield bounces back at Talladega

Rain delayed first qualifying until early evening and back-up lights had to be used to enable the drivers to see the circuit.

'This is pretty cool,' said Mayfield. 'We've been struggling all year and to come here and sit on the pole is pretty awesome.'

Bill Elliott was pleased to join him on the front row ahead of reigning champion Dale Jarrett and the legendary Dale Earnhardt.

Jarrett said that the darkness would have been a safety issue if changes to the cars' restrictor plates hadn't reduced speeds and horsepower this season.

'If we were running 210mph that might have been different,' he said. 'What we were running there wasn't a big deal.'

Earnhardt said he had expected better from himself in qualifying:

'I ran high on the first lap and just threw the lap away,' he explained. 'We really didn't get a qualifying lap in practice. Maybe we got carried away on doing all we could to get the car as good as we could.'

Mark Martin, the winner at Martinsville last weekend, completed the top five.

Several big names failed to make it into the top 25 confirmed positions and will have to try for a place in the back half of the starting line-up in tonight's second round qualifying, including ex-CART star Robby Gordon and Winston Cup superstar Jeff Gordon, only 33rd and 34th quickest respectively.

Series leader Bobby Labonte was also in trouble, blowing an engine on his qualifying run and failing to make the top 25. The same fate befell his team-mate and reigning rookie champion Tony Stewart.

Jeff Burton was the other driver in the wars, his oil pump failing before he could even complete an out lap.

First round qualifying times from Talladega: