Mayfield wins first Winston Cup pole since 2000

TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Although Jeremy Mayfield got his first pole in more than two years, he doesn't figure the Talladega Superspeedway aces from Dale Earnhardt Inc. should be too worried.

"That doesn't change anything," Mayfield said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. "We beat them in qualifying, but they don't ever qualify that well."

Mayfield qualified his Dodge at 186.489 mph. Earnhardt Jr., who has won the last three races on the 2.66-mile oval, was 13th-fastest. Waltrip will start Sunday's Aaron's 499 16th in a field of 43.

They have combined for seven victories in the last seven races at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway -- the tracks where NASCAR requires carburetor restrictor plates.

"It's no secret, though, that those two are going to beat the ones to beat," Mayfield said after his seventh career pole. "It will be tough to beat those DEI cars, but I think we have definitely closed the gap."

Mayfield, who joined Ray Evernham's team at the start of 2002, got his first pole since October 2000 at Rockingham.

"We needed this," he said.

Mayfield had not qualified better than 10th this season. He also is without a top-20 finish since running eighth in the season-opener in Daytona.

"I really believe we've got good race team here and ... I knew were going to have a good car," he said. "I just didn't know it was going to be this good. It's the best since I've been here with this team."

Kevin Harvick was second in a Chevrolet at 186.166, followed by the Ford of Elliott Sadler at 186.047, the Chevy of four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon at 186.021 and the Dodge of Bill Elliott, Mayfield's teammate, at 185.956.

Earnhardt was disappointed after going 185.176. His Monte Carlo had been the fastest in practice.

"We should have run a little faster than that," he said. "But we kind of had a little trouble getting through (inspection), and I think it slowed the car down a little bit."

Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 this year for the second time, ran 184.729. He also appeared unconcerned about his qualifying effort.

"We'll just race them on Sunday," he said. "The car is running good and we should be good on Sunday."

Rounding out the top 10 were Robby Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Ryan Newman; Mark Martin and rookie Casey Mears.

Johnson said a new template measurement from NASCAR hurt some of the drivers.

"It looks like it slowed down the 24 (Gordon), us and the 8 (Earnhardt) and a couple of other guys," Johnson said. "We're kind of bummed, but there's nothing we can do.

"We've just got to find another way to get a little bit more speed. We'll be fine on Sunday."

Series points leader Matt Kenseth, Martin's Roush Racing teammate, was 27th, just behind another teammate, Kurt Busch, Kenseth leads Busch by 155 points.

David Green was initially listed sixth in the field, but his speed was disqualified after his car was found to be too low in the rear. That moved Mike Wallace into the field and sent Green home along with Larry Foyt and Brett Bodine.