NASCAR

• Truex Jr. tops in Phoenix qualifying

  
  

  Avondale, AZ (Sports Network) - Martin Truex Jr.

  shrugged off a penalty assessed by NASCAR to his team earlier this week by winning the pole for Sunday's Checker O'Reilly Auto Parts 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.

  Truex turned a lap at 135.120 m.p.h.

  (26.643 seconds) for his third pole of the season and the fourth of his Sprint Cup Series career. He won the pole for the season-opening Daytona 500 and the fall night-time race at Atlanta earlier this year.

  "This is one of those places where there is a real fine line, and if you don't drive in hard enough, you can't get off the corner, and if you drive it in too hard, you can't get off the corner, so I just hit it right," Truex said.

  On Tuesday, Truex was docked 50 points and crew chief Kevin Manion received a $50,000 fine after his No.1 Chevrolet failed post-race inspection last Sunday at Texas Motor Speedway. NASCAR officials discovered the front of Truex's car was too low and therefore did not meet the required height specification.

  Truex, currently 26th in points, will make his second-to-last start for Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing at Phoenix.

  The 29-year-old driver will head to Michael Waltrip Racing for the 2010 Sprint Cup campaign.

  Kurt Busch, who won at Texas, qualified on the outside pole with a lap at 134.579 m.p.h.

  "Maybe some of the momentum from last weekend carried over to today, because second place was definitely better than what we expected," Busch said.

  Busch's crew chief, Pat Tryson, is leaving Penske Racing at the end of the season to guide Truex's efforts at MWR next year.

  Jimmie Johnson will start third, as he looks to rebound from his disappointing 38th-place finish at Texas.

  Johnson, attempting to win his unprecedented fourth straight Cup championship, crashed in the opening laps at Texas and saw his points lead shrink to 73 over Hendrick Motorsports teammate Mark Martin.

  "It felt nice to go out there and just blister a lap and hustle the car around and do something with these frustrations I've had the past five days," Johnson said.

  Johnson has won three of the last four races at Phoenix, including the last two fall events here.

  Kasey Kahne qualified fourth, while Denny Hamlin took the fifth spot.

  Greg Biffle, Kyle Busch, Tony Stewart, Casey Mears and Martin completed the top-10. Martin won the spring race at Phoenix in April.

  "[Thecar] was just all over the place," Martin said.

  "I needed a breathtakingly spectacular lap, but I got a below average lap." Jeff Gordon, currently third in points (-112), will start 14th.

  Regan Smith, Kevin Conway and Brandon Ash failed to qualify.

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

  11/13 19:44:53 ET