Rolling off for his qualifying run thirty-third out of forty-seven, Martin Truex Jr. benefited from cloud cover to post a lap of 30.106 seconds at a speed of 184.149 mph, good enough for his second pole of the year. Despite announcing he would be leaving Earnhardt Ganassi Racing at the end of the year, this team has refused to give in and Saturday’s qualifying effort proves just that.

“It’s been kind of a tough season for us, but we’ve been working hard and have been battling hard,” Truex Jr. explained. “I think it kind of shows the character of the guys on my team and how hard they work. Hopefully we can finish the deal off for them this weekend. I sure would like to get to Victory Lane before the year is out.”

Truex’s quick lap was good enough to bump Richard Petty Motorsports’ Kasey Kahne from the top-spot, which he had earned with a lap of 30.213 seconds at a speed of 183.497 mph. With Atlanta being one of his favorite tracks, Kahne was excited to be starting on the front row for tomorrow night’s race. Sitting eleventh in the standings, Kahne is only eighteen points to the good with two races remaining before the Chase field is set.

 “It feels really good,” Kahne said following his qualifying run. “We had a great practice, felt like things have gone really well today. Had a really good lap there, I was really happy with it. We picked up a lot from where we were in practice as far as qualifying side of things. I thought I could have got a little bit more in the middle of [turns] three and four and back to the start/finish, but I still don’t think I would have gone as fast as Truex. He ran a great lap and it’ll be nice to start of the front row this weekend. This is a big race for us tomorrow night, we need to gain points and figure out how to get all the points we can.”

Jimmie Johnson will roll off from the third spot tomorrow night after a lap of 30.236 seconds at a speed of 183.358 mph. The driver of the No. 48 Lowe’s/Kobalt Chevrolet was fastest in the day’s opening session, but rolling off second in the qualifying order Johnson did not have the most ideal track conditions for his time trial around the facility.

Johnson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon will line up in the fourth spot for tomorrow night’s race thanks to a lap of 30.296 seconds at a speed of 182.994 mph. Kyle Busch will try to make his way into the Chase from the fifth-spot, with his older brother and March’s Atlanta winner Kurt Busch. Mark Martin, Brian Vickers, David Stremme and Denny Hamlin will round out the top-10.

In the go or go home category, Patrick Carpentier, Tony Raines and Regan Smith will head home, while Terry Labonte will race thanks to a Past Champion provisional. This marks the first time Regan Smith has failed to make the show all year. Running a limited schedule, this team has been on the top of their game each time they showed up at the track, but Saturday came up just short.

Sunday’s Pep Boys Auto 500 is set for a 7:30pm E.T. start with coverage on ESPN. Be sure to check back to HardcoreRaceFans.com for all of the latest from the Atlanta Motor Speedway on this Labor Day weekend.

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