Mears scores first pole

Mears has bounced back this year from a difficult season in his Chip Ganassi Racing Intrepid.

"It's just so awesome," he said. "It's never happened before, so I don't know exactly how I feel. I'm happy and really happy for the people that stuck behind me through last year. We struggled bad. Chip and Felix [Sabates] and all the guys at Target said they were going to stick behind me. Here we are getting top 10s now and getting poles and running up front. I can't thank all those guys enough."

Joe Nemechek will start from the outside of the front row in his Chevrolet, while Kurt Busch makes sure that all manufacturers are represented in the top three. Sterling Marlin (Dodge), Elliott Sadler (Ford) and Brian Vickers round out the top six.

The recuperating Dale Earnhardt Jr qualified 16th and has pledged to contest the entire weekend, although John Andretti is on stand-by should his burns cause him too much pain.