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Jeff Gordon claims NASCAR Sprint Cup pole at Talladega

Jeff Gordon claimed his 71st career pole position in qualifying for Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Talladega

Taking an unusual approach to his qualifying run, Gordon was able to beat the session's long-standing benchmark set earlier by Penske's AJ Allmendinger, with a second flying lap of 49.973 seconds, at an average speed of 191.623mph, and was the only driver to break under the 50-second mark.

While drivers usually run the first of two laps on a high line to gain maximum speed and momentum for the second one, which they run on the inside, Gordon took the shortest line on both of them, and was already fourth fastest with his first one.

Gordon's pole means he continues a streak of setting at least one pole position every season for the past 20 years, matching a record set by NASCAR legend David Pearson.

"We need something to boost our morale and some positives because we've had a rough year so far," said Gordon, who ranks 17th in the drivers' standings after nine races.

"We just wanted to try something different in qualifying. We tried it yesterday on the one run that we made. This is a different monster than Daytona and you've got to treat it a little bit different. I just felt we could get up to speed and you don't need to run that high line that takes more time. But I did not expect that good a lap."

Allmendinger's front row starting position is his third consecutive top four result in qualifying for Penske Racing, as he beat the Richard Petty Motorsports Fords of Australian Marcos Ambrose and his team-mate Aric Almirola, who had set the pace in practice in both of Friday's practice sessions.

Hendrick's Kasey Kahne was fifth fastest ahead of points leader Greg Biffle, the best of the Roush Fenway Fords that dominated earlier this year at Daytona, the only other restrictor-plate venue.

Biffle's team-mate Edwards was seventh fastest and will share the fourth row of the grid with reigning champion Tony Stewart, while Michael Waltrip had a solid return behind the wheel of his #55 MWR Toyota with the ninth quickest lap, ahead of the third Roush car of Daytona 500 winner Matt Kenseth.

Trevor Bayne was the fastest of the non-guaranteed drivers in 11th, ahead of Earnhardt Ganassi's Juan Pablo Montoya.

Last year's spring Talladega race winner Jimmie Johnson will see the green flag wave from row 10, beside his Hendrick team-mate Dale Earnhardt Jr, who pushed him to victory a year ago.

JJ Yeley was the only non-qualifier.

Pos  Driver                Team/Car                     Time     Gap
 1.  Jeff Gordon           Hendrick Chevrolet           49.973s
 2.  AJ Allmendinger       Penske Dodge                 50.107s  + 0.134s
 3.  Marcos Ambrose        Petty Ford                   50.126s  + 0.153s
 4.  Aric Almirola         Petty Ford                   50.141s  + 0.168s
 5.  Kasey Kahne           Hendrick Chevrolet           50.196s  + 0.223s
 6.  Greg Biffle           Roush Fenway Ford            50.245s  + 0.272s
 7.  Carl Edwards          Roush Fenway Ford            50.245s  + 0.272s
 8.  Tony Stewart          Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       50.274s  + 0.301s
 9.  Michael Waltrip       Waltrip Toyota               50.335s  + 0.362s
10.  Matt Kenseth          Roush Fenway Ford            50.347s  + 0.374s
11.  Trevor Bayne          Wood Brothers Ford           50.355s  + 0.382s
12.  Juan Pablo Montoya    Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet  50.363s  + 0.390s
13.  Brad Keselowski       Penske Dodge                 50.381s  + 0.408s
14.  Ryan Newman           Stewart-Haas Chevrolet       50.383s  + 0.410s
15.  Martin Truex Jr       Waltrip Toyota               50.411s  + 0.438s
16.  Josh Wise             Front Row Ford               50.411s  + 0.438s
17.  Paul Menard           Childress Chevrolet          50.425s  + 0.452s
18.  Dale Earnhardt Jr     Hendrick Chevrolet           50.436s  + 0.463s
19.  Jimmie Johnson        Hendrick Chevrolet           50.454s  + 0.481s
20.  Kevin Harvick         Childress Chevrolet          50.457s  + 0.484s
21.  Kyle Busch            Gibbs Toyota                 50.482s  + 0.509s
22.  Denny Hamlin          Gibbs Toyota                 50.485s  + 0.512s
23.  Jamie McMurray        Earnhardt-Ganassi Chevrolet  50.506s  + 0.533s
24.  Clint Bowyer          Waltrip Toyota               50.518s  + 0.545s
25.  Casey Mears           Germain Ford                 50.539s  + 0.566s
26.  David Gilliland       Front Row Ford               50.572s  + 0.599s
27.  David Stremme         Inception Toyota             50.578s  + 0.605s
28.  Terry Labonte         FAS Lane Ford                50.618s  + 0.645s
29.  Jeff Burton           Childress Chevrolet          50.640s  + 0.667s
30.  Joey Logano           Gibbs Toyota                 50.647s  + 0.674s
31.  Regan Smith           Furniture Row Chevrolet      50.653s  + 0.680s
32.  David Ragan           Front Row Ford               50.661s  + 0.688s
33.  Kurt Busch            Phoenix Chevrolet            50.671s  + 0.698s
34.  David Reutimann       Baldwin Chevrolet            50.693s  + 0.720s
35.  Michael McDowell      Parsons Ford                 50.766s  + 0.793s
36.  Bill Elliott          NEMCO Toyota                 50.890s  + 0.917s
37.  Joe Nemechek          NEMCO Toyota                 50.933s  + 0.960s
38.  Dave Blaney           Baldwin Chevrolet            51.038s  + 1.065s
39.  Robert Richardson Jr  R3 Toyota                    51.288s  + 1.315s
40.  Landon Cassill        BK Toyota                    51.403s  + 1.430s
41.  Travis Kvapil         BK Toyota                    51.427s  + 1.454s
42.  Bobby Labonte         JTG Daugherty Toyota         51.542s  + 1.569s
43.  Tony Raines           Joe Falk Chevrolet           51.338s  + 1.365s

Did not qualify:

     JJ Yeley              Robinson-Blakeney Toyota     51.402s  + 1.429s

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