Catchfence

Dale Earnhardt Jr., captured the NSCS Coors Light Pole Award, when he ran a qualifying lap speed of 192.761 mph (setting a new COT qualifying record – breaking Jimmie Johnson’s 192.376 mph set at Charlotte last year), during the Kobalt Tools 500 qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

This was Dale Jr.’s first series pole in the 2010 season (his last came 68 races ago in April at Texas ); his ninth series career pole, and his second series pole at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Sharing the front row with Dale Jr., with a speed of 192.280 mph, will be Kyle Busch, who will be followed by Juan Pablo Montoya (192.106) starting third, Mark Martin (191.814) fourth, Jeff Gordon (191.774) fifth, Kasey Kahne (191.688) sixth, Ryan Newman (191.549) seventh, Elliott Sadler (191.436) eighth, David Reutimann (191.186) ninth and Carl Edwards (191.087) rounds out the top-10 starting positions.

Failing to make the field were the #09 of Aric Almirola; #90 of Casey Mears and the #46 of Terry Cook.

2010 Kobalt Tools 500 NSCS Starting Lineup

Pos	Car	Driver	Team	Time	Speed
1	88	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet	28.761	192.761
2	18	Kyle Busch	M&M's Toyota	28.833	192.28
3	42	Juan Pablo Montoya	Target Chevrolet	28.859	192.106
4	5	Mark Martin	Hendrickcars.com/GoDaddy.com Chevrolet	28.903	191.814
5	24	Jeff Gordon	DuPont/National Guard Chevrolet	28.909	191.774
6	9	Kasey Kahne	Budweiser Ford	28.922	191.688
7	39	Ryan Newman	Tornados Chevrolet	28.943	191.549
8	19	Elliott Sadler	Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford	28.96	191.436
9	0	David Reutimann	Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota	28.998	191.186
10	99	Carl Edwards	Scotts Ford	29.013	191.087
11	2	Kurt Busch	Miller Lite Dodge	29.018	191.054
12	47	Marcos Ambrose	Lance/Tom's Toyota	29.036	190.935
13	16	Greg Biffle	U.S. Census Ford	29.049	190.85
14	17	Matt Kenseth	Valvoline Ford	29.058	190.791
15	14	Tony Stewart	Office Depot Chevrolet	29.073	190.692
16	48	Jimmie Johnson	Lowe's/KOBALT Tools Chevrolet	29.081	190.64
17	6	David Ragan	UPS Ford	29.091	190.574
18	33	Clint Bowyer	BB&T Chevrolet	29.093	190.561
19	56	Martin Truex Jr.	NAPA Toyota	29.095	190.548
20	11	Denny Hamlin	FedEx Office Toyota	29.114	190.424
21	71	Bobby Labonte	TaxSlayer.com Chevrolet Chevrolet	29.138	190.267
22	31	Jeff Burton	Caterpillar Chevrolet	29.145	190.221
23	98	Paul Menard	CertainTeed/Menards Ford	29.181	189.987
24	1	Jamie McMurray	Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Chevrolet	29.192	189.915
25	43	A J Allmendinger	Best Buy/Insignia Ford	29.201	189.857
26	83	Brian Vickers	Red Bull Toyota	29.21	189.798
27	66	Dave Blaney	PRISM Motorsports Toyota	29.242	189.59
28	12	Brad Keselowski	Mopar/FLO TV Dodge Dodge	29.245	189.571
29	20	Joey Logano	Home Depot Toyota	29.304	189.189
30	36	Mike Bliss	Wave Energy Drink Chevrolet	29.311	189.144
31	13	Max Papis	GEICO Toyota	29.316	189.112
32	82	Scott Speed	Red Bull Toyota	29.321	189.079
33	87	Joe Nemechek	FrontRowJoe.com Toyota	29.324	189.06
34	21	Bill Elliott	Motorcraft/Quick Lane Tire & Auto Center Ford	29.33	189.021
35	29	Kevin Harvick	Shell/Pennzoil Chevrolet	29.331	189.015
36	77	Sam Hornish Jr.	Mobil 1 Dodge	29.338	188.97
37	38	David Gilliland	Charter Air Transport/Taco Bell Ford	29.436	188.341
38	78	Regan Smith	Furniture Row Racing Chevrolet	29.496	187.958
39	7	Robby Gordon	Warner Music Nashville/Blake Shelton Toyota	29.742	186.403
40	34	Travis Kvapil	Long John Silver's Ford	Owner Points
41	37	Kevin Conway #	Extenze Ford	Owner Points
42	26	Boris Said	Sacred Power/Southern Pride Trucking Ford	Owner Points
43	55	Michael McDowell	PRISM Motorsports Toyota	29.371	188.758

# Denotes Rookie