Originally published Friday, March 5, 2010 at 8:28 PM
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Dale Earnhardt Jr. earns pole for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event | Auto racing
Dale Earnhardt Jr. is on the pole for the first time in nearly two years. He is hoping it will lead to victory lane. Earnhardt claimed the pole Friday night for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 — a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway — with a speed of 192.761 mph.
HAMPTON, Ga. — Dale Earnhardt Jr. is on the pole for the first time in nearly two years. He is hoping it will lead to victory lane.
Earnhardt claimed the pole Friday night for Sunday's Kobalt Tools 500 — a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway — with a speed of 192.761 mph. It will be the first time Junior has taken green at the head of a Sprint Cup field since an April 2008 race in Fort Worth, Texas.
"It's good to be on the pole, and I'm real proud of it," Earnhardt said. "Getting a pole anywhere is good for our team. We're so hungry to do well on Sunday."
Kasey Kahne of Enumclaw will start sixth and Greg Biffle of Vancouver, Wash., will start in 13th of 43.
Kahne is one of four drivers who finished among the top 10 in both Cup races at the track last year; he won the Pep Boys Auto 500 on Sept. 6.
Earnhardt is seeking to rebound from a miserable season in which he failed to win a race, cracked the top 10 a mere five times, led 146 laps in 36 races and finished 25th in the Sprint Cup standings — despite racing for Hendrick Motorsports, the best team in the business.
Earnhardt hasn't won a race since June 15, 2008, in Michigan.
"You've just got to try to be confident," he said. "We got beat down last year. We figured we'd have a chance to start new this year. It's a better race team. We're working well together."
Taking advantage of a chilly 50-degree night that boosted speeds on the high-banked oval, Earnhardt put up a lap that was faster than any pole-winning speed since Martin Truex Jr. won the Texas pole Nov. 4, 2007, at 193.105, before the full-time introduction of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow.
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