Montoya starts first Chase with New Hampshire pole

LOUDON, N.H. -- Juan Montoya sped around New Hampshire Motor Speedway in a track-record 28.545 seconds (133.431 mph) to win the pole for Sunday's Sylvania 300, the first race in the Chase.

Montoya, who clinched his berth in NASCAR's playoffs last Saturday at Richmond, starts the Chase 40 points behind Mark Martin, who qualified 14th in Friday's time trials. Tony Stewart, the points leader through 26 events before the Chase field was re-seeded according to race wins, will start beside Montoya on the front row after a lap at 132.581 mph.

Sylvania 300

Race Lineup

Pos.	Driver	Make
1.	Juan Montoya	Chevrolet
2.	Tony Stewart	Chevrolet
3.	Kurt Busch	Dodge
4.	Denny Hamlin	Toyota
5.	Carl Edwards	Ford
6.	David Stremme	Dodge
7.	Martin Truex Jr.	Chevrolet
8.	Bobby Labonte	Chevrolet
9.	Kyle Busch	Toyota
10.	Jeff Gordon	Chevrolet

• Race Lineup | Photo Gallery

Qualifying Video

• Montoya sets track record
• Stewart on front row
• Vickers not off to a good start

Chase driver Kurt Busch, who matched Stewart's speed to the thousandth of a second, will start third alongside Denny Hamlin (132.030 mph). Carl Edwards (132.012 mph) qualified fifth, followed by David Stremme, Martin Truex Jr., Bobby Labonte, Kyle Busch and Jeff Gordon.

"At the end of practice [earlier Friday], we made a [qualifying] run," said Montoya, who won his second pole of the year and the second of his career. "The lap wasn't that great, and we still ran a .70 [actually .74], so like, 'Wow -- interesting. Can't complain.'"

Montoya won his Chase spot with conservative points racing but now is inclined to take a more aggressive approach.

"You've got to be very smart about it," he said. "Most of the cars in the Chase are going to be up there. To gain points is going to be really hard, but to lose points to them is going to be very easy. So I think you've got to be very smart about it on that aspect, but in the end, you've got to go for wins.

"You've got to go for broke here."

In addition to Montoya, Stewart, Busch, Hamlin, Martin, Edwards and Gordon, drivers competing in the Chase earned the following starting spots: Kasey Kahne, 11th; Jimmie Johnson, 16th; Ryan Newman, 18th; defending race winner Greg Biffle, 22nd; and Brian Vickers, 26th.

"I was happy with it," said Stewart, who, as the winner of three races this season, enters the Chase 10 points behind Martin. "I think we ran a .74 [actually .79] in practice and a .72 in qualifying, so we backed up what we ran, and we're pretty happy with that. Normally, if we qualify well here, we normally race really well here, so it's a perfect start to the weekend so far."

Derrike Cope and Dexter Bean failed to qualify for the 43-car field