BRISTOL, Tenn. – Mark Martin will start from the pole for the fifth time in the 2009 season Saturday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway in the Sprint Cup Series Sharpie 500.
Martin’s lap of 124.484 mph was just good enough for first, edging second-place Greg Biffle by just over two one hundredths of a second.
“We just ran so many really special laps,” Martin said. “I believe the law of averages caught up with us. I didn’t need to choke today.
“We got a great lap again, and so that was really really good.”
Rookie Scott Speed qualified fourth in his effort to return the No. 82 team back to the top-35 in points, Dave Blaney drove his start-and-park operation to a season-high fourth and Matt Kenseth will roll off fifth.
Qualifying Results
| Pos. | No. | Driver | Make | Speed | Time | Bnd |
| 1 | 5 | Mark Martin | Chevrolet | 124.484 | 15.414 | |
| 2 | 16 | Greg Biffle | Ford | 124.307 | 15.436 | -0.022 |
| 3 | 82 | Scott Speed* | Toyota | 124.146 | 15.456 | -0.042 |
| 4 | 66 | Dave Blaney | Toyota | 123.969 | 15.478 | -0.064 |
| 5 | 17 | Matt Kenseth | Ford | 123.897 | 15.487 | -0.073 |
| 6 | 33 | Clint Bowyer | Chevrolet | 123.89 | 15.488 | -0.074 |
| 7 | 7 | Casey Mears | Chevrolet | 123.754 | 15.505 | -0.091 |
| 8 | 20 | Joey Logano* | Toyota | 123.706 | 15.511 | -0.097 |
| 9 | 39 | Ryan Newman | Chevrolet | 123.642 | 15.519 | -0.105 |
| 10 | 43 | Reed Sorenson | Dodge | 123.61 | 15.523 | -0.109 |
| 11 | 171 | David Gilliland | Chevrolet | 123.586 | 15.526 | -0.112 |
| 12 | 42 | Juan Montoya | Chevrolet | 123.586 | 15.526 | -0.112 |
| 13 | 2 | Kurt Busch | Dodge | 123.538 | 15.532 | -0.118 |
| 14 | 83 | Brian Vickers | Toyota | 123.451 | 15.543 | -0.129 |
| 15 | 18 | Kyle Busch | Toyota | 123.435 | 15.545 | -0.131 |
| 16 | 29 | Kevin Harvick | Chevrolet | 123.34 | 15.557 | -0.143 |
| 17 | 26 | Jamie McMurray | Ford | 123.245 | 15.569 | -0.155 |
| 18 | 0 | David Reutimann | Toyota | 123.126 | 15.584 | -0.17 |
| 19 | 44 | A.J. Allmendinger | Dodge | 123.103 | 15.587 | -0.173 |
| 20 | 96 | Bobby Labonte | Ford | 123.047 | 15.594 | -0.18 |
| 21 | 48 | Jimmie Johnson | Chevrolet | 122.984 | 15.602 | -0.188 |
| 22 | 8 | Terry Labonte | Toyota | 122.842 | 15.62 | -0.206 |
| 23 | 6 | David Ragan | Ford | 122.787 | 15.627 | -0.213 |
| 24 | 1 | Martin Truex Jr. | Chevrolet | 122.756 | 15.631 | -0.217 |
| 25 | 47 | Marcos Ambrose | Toyota | 122.67 | 15.642 | -0.228 |
| 26 | 4 | Scott Wimmer | Chevrolet | 122.646 | 15.645 | -0.231 |
| 27 | 88 | Dale Earnhardt Jr. | Chevrolet | 122.584 | 15.653 | -0.239 |
| 28 | 78 | Regan Smith | Chevrolet | 122.576 | 15.654 | -0.24 |
| 29 | 9 | Kasey Kahne | Dodge | 122.537 | 15.659 | -0.245 |
| 30 | 14 | Tony Stewart | Chevrolet | 122.521 | 15.661 | -0.247 |
| 31 | 7 | Robby Gordon | Toyota | 122.482 | 15.666 | -0.252 |
| 32 | 99 | Carl Edwards | Ford | 122.419 | 15.674 | -0.26 |
| 33 | 24 | Jeff Gordon | Chevrolet | 122.411 | 15.675 | -0.261 |
| 34 | 12 | David Stremme | Dodge | 122.31 | 15.688 | -0.274 |
| 35 | 37 | Tony Raines | Dodge | 122.217 | 15.7 | -0.286 |
| 36 | 55 | Michael Waltrip | Toyota | 122.115 | 15.713 | -0.299 |
| 37 | 31 | Jeff Burton | Chevrolet | 122.108 | 15.714 | -0.3 |
| 38 | 77 | Sam Hornish Jr. | Dodge | 122.053 | 15.721 | -0.307 |
| 39 | 187 | Joe Nemechek | Toyota | 121.566 | 15.784 | -0.37 |
| 40 | 36 | Mike Skinner | Toyota | 121.497 | 15.793 | -0.379 |
| 41 | 98 | Paul Menard | Ford | 121.389 | 15.807 | -0.393 |
| 42 | 34 | John Andretti | Chevrolet | 121.243 | 15.826 | -0.412 |
| 43 | 11 | Denny Hamlin | Toyota | 120.626 | 15.907 | -0.493 |
