Turning a lap in 15.414 seconds (124.484 mph) Friday at Bristol Motor Speedway, Martin, 50, weathered a determined run from Greg Biffle (124.307 mph) to win his second pole of the season at the .533-mile short track and his fifth of the season overall.
Rookie Scott Speed (124.146 mph) qualified third and will start next to fourth-place qualifier Dave Blaney (123.970 mph). Matt Kenseth (123.897 mph), 11th in the standings and 20 points ahead of Martin, will take the green flag in the fifth position.
Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson will start sixth through 10th, respectively. NASCAR
“It feels like I’m carrying a 200-pound gorilla on my shoulders,” Martin said after turning a lap at 124.484 m.p.h.
“I didn’t need to choke today and we got a great lap. It’s a real big battle, mostly because I want to make the (Chase) for my team. For me, I’ve had lots of brutal disappointments. I care for this team, that’s why I want it so bad. They want it so bad, and they dig so hard.” Edmonton Sun
POS CAR DRIVER MAKE 1 5 Mark Martin Chevrolet 2 16 Greg Biffle Ford 3 82 Scott Speed* Toyota 4 66 Dave Blaney Toyota 5 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 6 33 Clint Bowyer Chevrolet 7 7 Casey Mears Chevrolet 8 20 Joey Logano* Toyota 9 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 10 43 Reed Sorenson Dodge 11 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 12 171 David Gilliland Chevrolet 13 2 Kurt Busch Dodge 14 83 Brian Vickers Toyota 15 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 16 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 17 26 Jamie McMurray Ford 18 0 David Reutimann Toyota 19 44 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 20 96 Bobby Labonte Ford 21 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 22 8 Terry Labonte Toyota 23 6 David Ragan Ford 24 1 Martin Truex Jr. Chevrolet 25 47 Marcos Ambrose Toyota 26 4 Scott Wimmer Chevrolet 27 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 28 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 29 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge 30 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 31 7 Robby Gordon Toyota 32 99 Carl Edwards Ford 33 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 34 12 David Stremme Dodge 35 37 Tony Raines Dodge 36 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota 37 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 38 77 Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 39 98 Paul Menard Ford 40 34 John Andretti Chevrolet 41 11 Denny Hamlin+ Toyota 42 19 Elliott Sadler+ Dodge 43 187 Joe Nemechek Toyota
| 
|