Backing up their strong qualifying performance in the season-opening Daytona 500, the Earnhardt Ganassi Racing teammates of Juan Pablo Montoya and Martin Truex Jr. put their Chevrolets first and third on the starting grid for Sunday’s Aaron’s 499.

Earning his first career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series pole, Montoya laid down a lap of 50.89 seconds at a speed of 188.171 mph. Known as an open-wheel specialist, Montoya has come close to success on the 2.66-mile Talladega Superspeedway.  In last year’s event, the Bogata, Columbia-native came home second behind race winner Kyle Busch. Currently fifteenth in the series standings, the driver of the No. 42 Target Chevrolet is steadily becoming a serious threat to make this year’s Chase.

"I really enjoy the restrictor plate racing," Montoya pointed out. "Really get a kick out of it. Having everybody so close together. It is not about who has the fastest car. It is about putting yourself in the right position, getting the right runs, doing the right stuff always goes a long way. I don't know, we always end up normally good here. You can always get involved in the wrecks. When we were leading here in November and right after the top group passed us, they got involved in a wreck and came down and hit and there is nothing you can do. But, with the same token, if you can stay out of trouble, you can get a top-five out of a place like this and a top-five in points is huge." 

Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle put his No. 16 3M Ford on the outside front row after a lap of 50.90 seconds at a speed of 188.141 mph. Not one of his best tracks, Biffle has five DNFs in the last six events at Talladega.

"I’m really excited about the lap,” Biffle said. “The last time we had a restrictor plate car this good was 2004 at the Daytona 500. The thing about it is we're basically qualifying in race trim, so I feel good about the race tomorrow. We've got a really fast car and an opportunity to run up front and stay up front. It's a big confidence boost for the team because they spend a tremendous amount of time working on these cars, and the engine shop.”

Montoya’s EGR teammate, Martin Truex Jr., will start Sunday’s race pushing his teammate into the first turn. Posting a lap of 50.94 seconds at a speed of 187.971 mph, Truex will make his first top-5 start since capturing the pole for the Daytona 500. Despite being a part of the stellar Dale Earnhardt Inc. organization, Truex only has one top-5 and two top-10s in eight previous starts.

"Our lap was really good," the New Jersey-native explained. "We all came down here getting ready for the race and we don't really do qualifying runs or know, this morning, really what we had. I'm excited for all the guys on the Bass Pro Chevy (team) and everybody at EGR. With Juan (Pablo Montoya) on the pole and us third, and both restrictor plate poles this year, so it's a big deal for all the guys at the shop, everybody at ECR engines and they've all done a great job in bringing us fast cars down here. I'm excited about the race." 

Penske Racing’s Sam Hornish Jr. logged the fourth-fastest time of the session, while Richard Childress Racing’s Clint Bowyer rounded out the top-5. Regan Smith, Mark Martin, rookie Scott Speed and Brad Keselowski will make up the rest of the top-10.

Hornish’s Penske Racing teammate David Stremme lost an engine during his qualifying run, but was able to post the 41st-fastest time before the engine let go.

COMPLETE NASCAR CUP SERIES QUALIFYING RESULTS

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