Junior's wild ride leaves him starting 37th

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Bud Pole Qualifying was all a matter of perspective for Dale Earnhardt Jr. on Friday.

Earnhardt could have lamented having to use a provisional for Sunday's Bass Pro Shops MBNA 500 after turning the slowest time of the 44 cars that took the green flag. But after nearly losing control of his No. 8 Chevrolet Monte Carlo on the first of his two qualifying laps, Junior was happy just to be back in the garage area.

	DEI teammates Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip will start 37th and 6th, respectively, at AMS. Credit: Autostock

"We were just a few inches from the backup car," Earnhardt said. "I'm glad we've got the car still in one piece."

As he entered Turn 1, Earnhardt's car broke loose and turned nearly completely sideways as he fought to regain control. By the time he gathered it up, he had lost all his momentum, turning a lap below 180 mph. His second lap was significantly faster -- 183.564 mph -- but still 8 mph slower than Ryan Newman's pole speed.

It's Earnhardt's worst starting position since he started 37th in the 2002 New Hampshire 300 -- and worst start at AMS since 2001, when he started 32nd and finished 23rd. Last year, he rolled off third at Atlanta.

"We tried some stuff that didn't work," Earnhardt said. "We were really, really loose."

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Despite giving up track position right off the bat, Earnhardt said he'll have 500 miles to make it up on Sunday.

"It's a good thing it was just qualifying," he said. "We've got a long day Sunday. We'll make it back up."

Earnhardt wasn't the only DEI team member who had his heartbeat raised during qualifying. Michael Waltrip said he experienced a similar "thrill."

"That was just a wreck about to happen," Waltrip said. "I got sideways more than you should be able to. Usually if you get that sideways you don't qualify well.

"Luckily, it happened so late that letting off wasn't a choice, so I just held it wide open and held on."

It worked, as Waltrip qualified sixth fastest at 190.287 mph.