Earnhardt Jr. captures pole for Sunday's NAPA 500

HAMPTON, Ga. -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. is still trying to prove to everyone, including himself, that he can be a legitimate championship contender in the near future.

The third-generation NASCAR driver took a step in the right direction Friday, winning the pole for the NAPA 500 and giving himself and his team a big boost of confidence with just two races remaining in this season.

"We've stumbled the last couple of races," Earnhardt said. "Winning this pole really gives us a shot in the arm going into this race on Sunday. We've got to show that we're consistently a top team."

The 27-year-old racer, the son of the seven-time Winston Cup champion who was killed in a crash in the season-opening Daytona 500, is seventh in the standings. But he holds only a two-point margin over series champion Bobby Labonte.

"It's important to us to have a good finish and be the top five or six," Earnhardt said. "This does more for me and my team going into the race than it really appears because, at this track, you don't change that much between qualifying and the race.

"I feel real strong that we'll be just as comfortable in the race as we were in qualifying."

Little E's second pole of the season and the fourth of his two-year career was accomplished by a surprising margin of nearly 2 mph over runner-up Mark Martin.

Martin, finishing up a frustrating season in which he has yet to win a race and is 12th in the points, appeared to have his third pole of the year locked up after running a lap of 190.463 mph.

Nobody else came close until Earnhardt, whose Chevrolet was far back in the 51-car qualifying line, blew that lap away with a 192.047 that was 0.760 seconds faster than Martin's Ford.

"We weren't really comfortable with the car when practice started," Earnhardt said. "We made a lot of changes, including three sets of shocks.

"I wasn't totally comfortable even though we were the fastest in practice, and after I saw Mark's time I didn't know if we could go that fast. I'm really surprised by that lap."

Martin shrugged off the second-place run.

"We're pretty happy with our car," he said. "It's not everything we want it to be, but we're getting closer. I think we'll be pretty good in the race."

Jeff Gordon, who can wrap up his fourth championship on Sunday simply by finishing 32nd or better, no matter what runner-up Ricky Rudd does, was 24th in qualifying.

Rudd was worse, though. He was 48th on the speed list and had to make the field as a provisional starter, based on team owner points. Rudd will start 37th in the 43-car field.

"I think the motor might have been going a little bit sour before I took the checkered flag, but it finally shook real bad and I just shut it off," Rudd said. "We definitely weren't on a pace to sit on the pole, but I think I had a decent lap going."

Dave Blaney and Ward Burton were third and fourth at 189.896 and 189.792 in Dodges, followed by Michael Waltrip's Chevy at 189.720 and the Dodge of Bill Elliott, coming off his first win in seven years, at 189.662.

Jerry Nadeau, the defending race champion, also had to resort to a provisional after posting the 40th-fastest speed.