Nemechek claims Sprint Cup pole

Nemechek, who had to make the field on time and was the penultimate driver to complete his run, drove his No. 78 Furniture Row Chevrolet flat out to a laptime of 51.103 seconds, at an average speed of 187.386 mph, knocking Tony Stewart off from the top spot.

"It's definitely a very special day," said Nemechek after scoring his fourth pole at Talladega and the 10th of his Sprint Cup Series career. "I've got to thank Hendrick Motorsports for giving us the power and the engines have been incredible this year.

"We're kind of the underdog team, a single car team competing here with the big boys and we've been able to put one on them in qualifying today. We were fast here last year in the race and man, I'm looking forward to tomorrow."

The 44-year-old probably had some help from above as he was carrying the logos of the National Day of Prayer on his car, which was obviously trimmed for qualifying, as was the case for most of the drivers who didn't have a guaranteed spot on the field.

Stewart looked unbeatable for most of the session and he will start Sunday's race from the outside of the front row and with a clear chance to score his maiden Cup victory at Talladega, where he has finished second six times in the past.

"The car drover really well in race trim yesterday and with this being an impound race we'll just take the tape off [the front of the car] now and start racing tomorrow," said Stewart. "I'm excited about that part. We've showed the speed now and hopefully we can show that speed again tomorrow."

Ken Schrader, another Talladega veteran, ended up third fastest in the No. 70 Haas CNC Chevrolet, which is also powered by Hendrick Motorsports engines. He completed his run right after Nemechek, as he also needed to make the field on time.

"When you're not locked in that top 35 you do what you have to do and we definitely concentrated more on qualifying today," said Schrader. "We probably have to undo a little bit of that tomorrow. The Hendrick motors, they're good for sure."

AJ Allmendinger put his car fourth on the grid on his return to the No. 84 Red Bull Toyota. Behind him Kyle Busch made it three Camrys in the top five with his Gibbs' teammate Denny Hamlin just a couple of places down in seventh.

David Ragan was the fastest Ford in sixth place, while Brian Vickers secured the best qualifying session ever for the Red Bull cars with eighth place, just ahead of the Hendrick cars of favorites Dale Earnhardt Jr and Jimmie Johnson.

Kyle Petty also made the field on time and he ended up eventually as the fastest Dodge qualifier in 15th, while Patrick Carpentier was 17th and the fastest rookie qualifier of the day.

Dario Franchitti was nineteenth fastest but due to the qualifying rules he will start the race from 43rd, as he was the slowest of those making the field on time.

Dave Blaney, J.J. Yeley and John Andretti were the three drivers who failed to qualify.

Pos  Driver               Make        Speed     Time
 1.  Joe Nemechek         Chevrolet   187.386   51.103
 2.  Tony Stewart         Toyota      186.896   51.237 + 0.134
 3.  Ken Schrader         Chevrolet   186.499   51.346 + 0.243
 4.  A.J. Allmendinger    Toyota      186.423   51.367 + 0.264
 5.  Kyle Busch           Toyota      186.416   51.369 + 0.266
 6.  David Ragan          Ford        186.303   51.400 + 0.297
 7.  Denny Hamlin         Toyota      186.300   51.401 + 0.298
 8.  Brian Vickers        Toyota      186.177   51.435 + 0.332
 9.  Dale Earnhardt Jr    Chevrolet   185.974   51.491 + 0.388
10.  Jimmie Johnson       Chevrolet   185.837   51.529 + 0.426
11.  Carl Edwards         Ford        185.704   51.566 + 0.463
12.  Jon Wood             Ford        185.517   51.618 + 0.515
13.  Matt Kenseth         Ford        185.502   51.622 + 0.519
14.  Travis Kvapil        Ford        185.484   51.627 + 0.524
15.  Kyle Petty           Dodge       185.481   51.628 + 0.525
16.  Sterling Marlin      Chevrolet   185.305   51.677 + 0.574
17.  Patrick Carpentier   Dodge       185.262   51.689 + 0.586
18.  Elliott Sadler       Dodge       185.187   51.710 + 0.607
19.  Scott Riggs          Chevrolet   185.061   51.745 + 0.642
20.  Jeff Gordon          Chevrolet   185.022   51.756 + 0.653
21.  Ryan Newman          Dodge       184.929   51.782 + 0.679
22.  Paul Menard          Chevrolet   184.818   51.813 + 0.71
23.  Kurt Busch           Dodge       184.811   51.815 + 0.712
24.  Michael McDowell     Toyota      184.758   51.830 + 0.727
25.  Reed Sorenson        Dodge       184.701   51.846 + 0.743
26.  Juan Montoya         Dodge       184.619   51.869 + 0.766
27.  Michael Waltrip      Toyota      184.619   51.869 + 0.766
28.  Aric Almirola        Chevrolet   184.601   51.874 + 0.771
29.  Regan Smith          Chevrolet   184.452   51.916 + 0.813
30.  David Reutimann      Toyota      184.377   51.937 + 0.834
31.  Greg Biffle          Ford        184.288   51.962 + 0.859
32.  Jamie McMurray       Ford        184.048   52.030 + 0.927
33.  Martin Truex Jr      Chevrolet   184.019   52.038 + 0.935
34.  Bobby Labonte        Dodge       184.019   52.038 + 0.935
35.  P.J. Jones           Dodge       183.822   52.094 + 0.991
36.  Casey Mears          Chevrolet   183.751   52.114 + 1.011
37.  Sam Hornish Jr       Dodge       183.744   52.116 + 1.013
38.  Jeff Burton          Chevrolet   183.716   52.124 + 1.021
39.  Kevin Harvick        Chevrolet   183.680   52.134 + 1.031
40.  David Gilliland      Ford        183.589   52.160 + 1.057
41.  Clint Bowyer         Chevrolet   183.522   52.179 + 1.076
42.  Kasey Kahne          Dodge       183.343   52.230 + 1.127
43.  Dario Franchitti     Dodge       185.115   51.730 + 0.627