NASCAR

• Gordon grabs first pole of the season

  
  

  Fort Worth, TX (Sports Network) - Jeff Gordon won his first pole since one year ago after posting the quickest lap in Friday's qualifying for the Dickies 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

  Gordon, currently third in points, lapped the 1.5-mile oval at 191.117 m.p.h. (28.255 seconds) for his 68th career Sprint Cup Series pole, but his first since last year's fall race at Texas.

  "We've been so close this year, and have been getting beat on these poles by Mark Martin, Ryan Newman, Jimmie Johnson and a bunch of them, so that was a great lap," said Gordon, who has won a pole in 17 consecutive seasons.

  Gordon is one pole away from tying Cale Yarborough for third on the all-time pole winners list. He also is one victory away from equaling Yarborough for fifth on the all-time race winners chart. Gordon's 82nd and most recent Cup win came at Texas earlier this year.

  Kasey Kahne will start alongside Gordon on the front row after turning a lap at 190.975 m.p.h.

  "It was a really good lap," Kahne said. "Everything was perfect there. I felt like I was really quick in [turns] one and two and might of given up just a touch in turns three and four." Kurt Busch qualified third, followed by Tony Stewart and Kyle Busch.

  Carl Edwards, the defending race winner, Mark Martin, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Clint Bowyer completed the top-10.

  JimmieJohnson will start 12th.

  Johnson, who is looking to win his unprecedented fourth straight Cup championship, holds a 184-point lead over Martin and a 192-point advantage over Gordon with three races remaining.

  Tony Raines, Dave Blaney, Max Papis and Mike Bliss failed to qualify.

  Sunday's 500-mile race is scheduled to start just after 3:15 p.m. (et).

  11/06 18:20:16 ET