David Gilliland had to fight to get NASCAR
approval to race at Talladega Superspeedway.
That battle two months ago was worth it.
Gilliland won the pole Saturday, posting a lap of 191.712 m.p.h.
in his Robert Yates Racing Ford. His speed was far off the 198.689
that Jeff Gordon posted during practice, but NASCAR mandated smaller
restrictor plates to slow the speeds before Sunday's race.
``They threw a curveball at us this morning with the restrictor
plate, but (car owner) Doug Yates wasn't worried at all,'' Gilliland
said. ``He put the super-tune on it he told me and the thing ran
great. I'm just real proud of the guys.
``It's a pleasure to drive one of their cars, especially here.
They've got a great track record here and it's just a pleasure to
drive one.''
Indeed, the No. 38 Ford will start from the pole for the third
consecutive race. Elliott Sadler took the top starting spot in the
same car last October and again in May.
But Sadler opted out of his contract with Yates, and moved to a
new ride with Evernham Motorsports eight races ago. It opened the
seat for Gilliland, who had never raced on a superspeedway before
and had to get clearance from NASCAR to race here this weekend in
just his ninth career start.
He got it right before his debut at Michigan, and will now lead
the field to the green flag on Sunday.
Dale Jarrett, the defending race winner and Gilliland's temporary
teammate, will start second. He's leaving RYR at the end of the
season to drive a Toyota for Michael Waltrip.
Jarrett thinks Gilliland will do fine.
``He's got a lot of talent,'' Jarrett said. ``It wasn't like Doug
or Robert went out and grabbed the first person they could fine.
They were keeping their eye on a lot of people out there and I think
he showed that he can be fast at some race tracks already, and
that's something that I'm not sure you can teach.''
Jimmie Johnson, who won here in May, will start third as he
searches for his third restrictor-plate victory of the season. He
needs it to help his championship hopes; he's currently eighth in
the Chase for the championship standings.
``I still think we are in position to race our way back into
this,'' said Johnson.
Jeff Gordon, Johnson's teammate, qualified fourth and was
followed by Greg Biffle.
The other Chase drivers were all over the map: points leader Jeff
Burton was 34th, Denny Hamlin 12th, Mark Martin 30th, Matt Kenseth
19th, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 33rd, Kyle Busch sixth and Kasey Kahne was
25th.
