Mark Martin claims second pole of 2012 at Richmond

The Michael Waltrip Racing veteran had been quickest in the opening practice session and backed up his speed by bumping Roush Fenway's Carl Edwards from pole after being the last car to complete his qualifying run.

Martin, 53, set a time of 21.040 seconds on his second flying lap, at an average speed of 128.327 mph around the 0.755-mile track, beating Edwards by a mere six thousandths of a second. His pole is MWR's third out of nine races this season, as the Toyota outfit continues to look for its first win of 2012.

"That was a good lap, I didn't think I could get the pole," said Martin after winning his 53rd career pole. "I enjoy working with MWR. They believe in me and we're having so much fun.

"In my heart, I really want to make MWR better. That's more important to me than anything."

Richard Childress Racing's Kevin Harvick, the most recent winner at Richmond, was third fastest as he continued his run of good qualifying efforts. Last week's polesitter, Penske's AJ Allmendinger, will share the same row with Harvick as he did at Kansas last Sunday when they started first and second respectively.

Kyle Busch, winless for his last 20 races, was fifth fastest in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, ahead of Hendrick Motorsports's Jeff Gordon and JGR's Denny Hamlin.

MWR's Martin Truex Jr and the Hendrick pairing of Kasey Kahne and Dale Earnhardt Jr - fastest in the second practice of the day - rounded out the top 10.

Reigning champion Tony Stewart, who won Thursday's Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown charity race, was 22nd fastest, while points leader Greg Biffle was a disappointing 28th fastest, right behind Hendrick's Jimmie Johnson, who brushed the wall early into first practice.

RCR's Paul Menard was forced to use his back up car after crashing his primary one in practice due to a broken throttle which stuck wide-open while exiting Turn 4.

Michael McDowell was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 25th, while Scott Riggs and JJ Yeley failed to make the field.


Pos  Driver              Team/Car                      Time     Gap
 1.  Mark Martin         Waltrip Toyota                21.040s
 2.  Carl Edwards        Roush Fenway Ford             21.046s  + 0.006s
 3.  Kevin Harvick       Childress Chevrolet           21.087s  + 0.047s
 4.  AJ Allmendinger     Penske Dodge                  21.100s  + 0.060s
 5.  Kyle Busch          Gibbs Toyota                  21.101s  + 0.061s
 6.  Jeff Gordon         Hendrick Chevrolet            21.135s  + 0.095s
 7.  Denny Hamlin        Gibbs Toyota                  21.138s  + 0.098s
 8.  Martin Truex Jr     Waltrip Toyota                21.147s  + 0.107s
 9.  Kasey Kahne         Hendrick Chevrolet            21.161s  + 0.121s
10.  Dale Earnhardt Jr   Hendrick Chevrolet            21.169s  + 0.129s
11.  Aric Almirola       Petty Ford                    21.184s  + 0.144s
12.  Ryan Newman         Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        21.194s  + 0.154s
13.  Kurt Busch          Phoenix Chevrolet             21.205s  + 0.165s
14.  Marcos Ambrose      Petty Ford                    21.213s  + 0.173s
15.  Regan Smith         Furniture Row Chevrolet       21.225s  + 0.185s
16.  Brad Keselowski     Penske Dodge                  21.261s  + 0.221s
17.  Dave Blaney         Baldwin Chevrolet             21.266s  + 0.226s
18.  Joey Logano         Gibbs Toyota                  21.274s  + 0.234s
19.  Bobby Labonte       JTG Daugherty Toyota          21.278s  + 0.238s
20.  JP Montoya          Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet   21.290s  + 0.250s
21.  Landon Cassill      BK Toyota                     21.294s  + 0.254s
22.  Tony Stewart        Stewart-Haas Chevrolet        21.302s  + 0.262s
23.  Clint Bowyer        Waltrip Toyota                21.311s  + 0.271s
24.  Matt Kenseth        Roush Fenway Ford             21.313s  + 0.273s
25.  Michael McDowell    Parsons Ford                  21.325s  + 0.285s
26.  Casey Mears         Germain Ford                  21.346s  + 0.306s
27.  Jimmie Johnson      Hendrick Chevrolet            21.350s  + 0.310s
28.  Greg Biffle         Roush Fenway Ford             21.356s  + 0.316s
29.  Travis Kvapil       BK Toyota                     21.369s  + 0.329s
30.  Jeff Burton         Childress Chevrolet           21.408s  + 0.368s
31.  Paul Menard         Childress Chevrolet           21.408s  + 0.368s
32.  Josh Wise           Front Row Ford                21.411s  + 0.371s
33.  David Reutimann     Baldwin Chevrolet             21.423s  + 0.383s
34.  David Stremme       Inception Toyota              21.432s  + 0.392s
35.  Joe Nemechek        NEMCO Toyota                  21.448s  + 0.408s
36.  Scott Speed         Leavine Racing Ford           21.456s  + 0.416s
37.  Jamie McMurray      Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet   21.485s  + 0.445s
38.  David Ragan         Front Row Ford                21.503s  + 0.463s
39.  Mike Bliss          Humphrey Smith Toyota         21.545s  + 0.505s
40.  Stephen Leicht      Childress Chevrolet           21.574s  + 0.534s
41.  Cole Whitt          Turn One Chevrolet            21.663s  + 0.623s
42.  David Gilliland     Front Row Ford                21.690s  + 0.650s
43.  Reed Sorenson       FAS Lane Ford                 21.705s  + 0.665s

Did not qualify:

     Scott Riggs         R3 Chevrolet                  21.807s  + 0.767s
     JJ Yeley            Robinson-Blakeney Toyota      22.030s  + 0.990s