Qual: Jeff Gordon on top

"With the new pavement, starting up front is more important than it ever has been before," he said. "It's already tough to pass. There are only two passing zones at this track - going into Turn 7 [the hard right-hander at the top of the hill] and going into Turn 11 [actually, 10, hairpin at the bottom].

"With the new surface and being able to drive in so deep because of the good grip under braking, I think it's going to be even harder to pass."

The Roush Racing fleet had a good day, with four of the five Roush drivers qualifying in the top-seven and all five in the top-13. Kurt Busch was third behind Wallace, with Mark Martin fourth, Matt Kenseth fifth, and Jeff Burton 13th.

As usual on the road courses, there were some surprises. Former CART and sportscar star Scott Pruett, who makes one or two runs a year in NASCAR, qualified sixth in for Ganassi. Said, fast in the practice and pole-winner here last year, faded to 19th in qualifying. Jim Inglebright was 28th in Richard Childress's Chevrolet while Tom Hubert got Kirk Shelmerdine's car in the field on time.

Newcomers Brandon Ash and Klaus Graf also caught the tail of the kite. Graf, a former German touring car star, became the first European driver to make it on to the grid of a NASCAR race in recent memory.

Nextel Cup points leader Jimmie Johnson failed to find any speed at all, qualifying 34th, nearly three seconds off his team-mate's pole time. There were several costly off-course excursions, among them Michael Waltrip and Scott Riggs, who had to take provisionals. The only driver not to make the 43-car grid was Morgan Shepherd.

"I think staying on the race course is going to be the key to Sunday's race," Gordon observed. "This has always been a track that's very finicky. You can't really max-brake anywhere. You can't attack the track. You have to have a lot of patience.

"Today the higher grip level gave you that feeling that you could attack a little bit more. Every time you did, it reached out and grabbed you."

Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 1m15.968s
Rusty Wallace Dodge 1m16.072s
Kurt Busch Ford 1m16.333s
Mark Martin Ford 1m16.456s
Matt Kenseth Ford 1m16.570s
Scott Pruett Dodge 1m16.658s
Greg Biffle Ford 1m16.674s
Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 1m16.748s
Joe Nemechek Chevrolet 1m16.827s
Bobby Labonte Chevrolet 1m16.873s