BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Jeff Gordon won the first pole of NASCAR's Car of Tomorrow era, putting his Chevrolet Impala in the top starting spot for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday.
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Gordon ran a lap at 125.453 mph to win his fifth career pole at Bristol. He beat Evernham Motorsports teammates Kasey Kahne and Elliott Sadler, who qualified second and third in Dodge Avengers.
Kahne posted a lap at 125.313 mph, while Sadler came in at 125.183 mph.
"Did I mention how much I love the Car of Tomorrow?" joked Gordon, critical of the car during its developmental stage.
"I've said the whole time, whether I like the car or not, we are going to do our best to be competitive. I don't care what the car is."
Chevrolet and Dodge are both introducing new models with the COT, a NASCAR-developed car that makes its Nextel Cup debut on Sunday. Ford is sticking with its Fusion model, and Toyota, in its first year at NASCAR's top level, is using the Camry.
The COT spent seven years in development, and NASCAR hopes it will improve safety, reduce team costs and improve the competition. Bristol is the first of the 16 races that will use the COT this season. It's scheduled to be phased in through 2009, but NASCAR hopes teams will ask to use the car full-time next year.
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| Jeff Gordon captures his fifth pole at Bristol. (AP) |
The Japanese automaker has struggled to get its cars into the first four races this season, and hit a low three weeks ago in Las Vegas when only two of seven Camrys made the field.
But five Toyota drivers qualified at Bristol, including A.J. Allmendinger and Jeremy Mayfield, who will make their long-awaited season debuts on Sunday.
Allmendinger, a former Champ Car star, has had a rough transition to NASCAR. His Team Red Bull car struggled in qualifying, and he had his heart broken in Las Vegas when he was bumped out of the race by the final driver attempting to make the field.
But he's in this week, and will start 43rd. Brian Vickers, his teammate who scored Toyota's best finish of the season with a 10th at California, qualified 25th.
Mayfield, who also missed the first four races, qualified 23rd to put both of Bill Davis Racing's entries in the race. Dave Blaney qualified seventh.
