Kvapil gives Yates the pole; DEI strong in 'Dega quals

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- In a qualifying session that saw none of the Chase for the Sprint Cup drivers crack the top 10, Travis Kvapil put his No. 28 Yates Racing Ford on the pole for Sunday's AMP Energy 500 at Talladega Superspeedway.

Kvapil covered the 2.66-mile distance at the restrictor-plate racetrack in 51.109 seconds (187.364 mph) Saturday (watch video) to edge Casey Mears (187.295 mph) for the top spot.

Amp Energy 500

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Travis Kvapil	Ford
2.	Casey Mears	Chevrolet
3.	Aric Almirola	Chevrolet
4.	Regan Smith	Chevrolet
5.	Paul Menard	Chevrolet
6.	Mike Wallace	Chevrolet
7.	Joe Nemechek	Chevrolet
8.	Tony Raines	Chevrolet
9.	Brian Vickers	Toyota
10.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet

• Lineup | Videos | Photos

"This is a place that's really special to the Yates family and my crew chief, Todd Parrott, loves coming here," Kvapil said. "It's awful special. There are a lot of [No.] 28 fans in the Talladega area, so it's pretty cool that we can come out here and get my first pole and give those 28 fans something to cheer about."

There's also a lot of Earnhardt fans in the area, and the loyal crowd has had little to cheer about since DEI reeled off six wins in seven races at Talladega from 2001 to 2004. Aric Almirola (187.265 mph) and Regan Smith (187.181 mph) qualified third and fourth, respectively, as all four Dale Earnhardt Inc. drivers will start in the top 10 (Paul Menard claimed the fifth spot and Martin Truex Jr. the 10th).

"I think it says a great deal about our program and where we are at Dale Earnhardt Inc.," DEI president Max Siegel said. "To also put three cars inside the top five, including a pair of rookie drivers with Aric and Regan, that really says a great deal about the future of our programs and where we are headed as a company."

Carl Edwards, second in the championship standings, will start 12th as the highest Chase competitor in the field. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified 15th (watch video) but will start from the rear of the field on Sunday because of an engine change after Friday's first practice session.

Kvapil spent a substantial portion of Friday's practice on qualifying runs, but said he won't have to change much on the car as the race progresses.

"As far as what we've got to do to make it race, basically just pull the tape off it, and we're good to go," said Kvapil, who won his first career pole for his 100th Cup start. "We worked a little harder on qualifying [Friday] than most teams that were locked in the top 35, but we knew we had a shot at possibly getting the pole, so we wanted to take advantage of that.

"We did go out and get in the draft and did a good race-type run, and it seemed to handle just fine. Really, the way the track is so smooth, there's not much of a handling issue, so, truthfully, all we've got to do is pull that tape off and we're good to go."

It was the eighth Talladega pole for a car owned by Yates, which was also the last Ford team to win at this track when Dale Jarrett grabbed a 2005 victory.

Yates' is a well-established operation, but had fallen on hard times as the engine program became the most successful part of the organization. Technology seemed to pass the Yates' by, and Jarrett and Elliott Sadler both jumped ship and their sponsors soon followed.

Robert Yates stepped aside at the end of last season, and son, Doug, formed an alliance with Roush Fenway Racing that has kept the team afloat. What's most impressive is that Yates has done it with very limited sponsorship on Kvapil and teammate David Gilliland's cars.

In winning the pole, Kvapil hopes he can attract funding to the team.

"[Saturday] is a big day in helping for 2009 and beyond for Yates Racing. Paul coming over and adding a third car, that's great," Kvapil said. "We're still trying to lock down all of our sponsors for ... next year. We're talking with a bunch of companies and we've had a bunch of interest, but to go out there and get those deals wrapped up, if you can go out and run good and run up front, that makes it a lot easier.

"So this is just a big step and hopefully will help put those packages together -- get our name out there and run up front and a lot of times those sponsor things kind of take care of themselves."

DEI has the same hopes. With just one full sponsor signed on for next year following the announcement earlier this week that Menard will take his services and family owned sponsorship to Yates, the team wants to run four cars but needs to find the funding to secure its 2009 plans. An engine alignment with Richard Childress Racing gave DEI the horsepower it needed for qualifying, and a team-wide strong run Sunday would put a positive spotlight on the slumping team.

"It's a tough time for all the teams right now," Smith said. "I think if you look through the garage, there's probably five or six teams that have at least one car unsponsored, maybe two. That's not just directed to our company. That's going on all over the garage right now.

"We're very comfortable where we are performance-wise right now, and I feel like the cars and the company as a whole is getting better each week."

Mears will start on the outside of the front row (watch video), if circumstances don't intervene. His girlfriend, Trisha Grablander, is due to give birth in the next few days, and Brad Keselowski is standing by as a possible relief driver if Mears has to leave before or during the race.

Mears said it's unlikely his child will be born this weekend, but a Hendrick Motorsports plane is ready to take him home to North Carolina if it happens.

"Right now, the last thing I want to do is miss the birth of my child," said Mears, who will leave Hendrick at the end of the season to drive for Richard Childress Racing next year.

Of the remaining Chase drivers, Jeff Burton starts 17th, points leader Jimmie Johnson 20th (watch video), Greg Biffle 22nd, Jeff Gordon 26th, Matt Kenseth 31st, Tony Stewart 34th, Clint Bowyer 35th, Denny Hamlin 36th, Kyle Busch 37th and Kevin Harvick 39th.

Of course, with the rapid-fire changes of position that take place in the draft at Talladega, starting position is less important there than at any other Cup track.

But a lackluster qualifying effort prompted a pessimistic comment from Busch, who has fallen from first to 12th in the standings over the first three Chase races.

"It didn't go too good, and don't expect much better for [Sunday]," he predicted.

Notes: Earnhardt, Bowyer, David Gilliland, Kasey Kahne, and David Reutimann all will start Sunday's race in backup cars because of a multi-car wreck in Friday's final practice session triggered by Earnhardt's blown right rear tire (watch video) ... Jon Wood qualified 27th in the No. 21 Wood Brothers Ford and will make his fourth Cup start ... Sam Hornish Jr. and Patrick Carpentier failed to make Sunday's race.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.