Hamlin on Pocono pole

Denny Hamlin earned his second career Budweiser pole award at Pocono International Raceway. Hamlin's lap of 169.638 mph just bested Kurt Busch for the top spot.

"It was a great run for us," Hamlin commented. "The crew did a lot of stuff to the car after practice to make it faster for qualifying."

It was a pretty impressive effort by the rookie who had never turned a lap at Pocono until this mornings practice session, "We had about 15 laps of practice, but I had not seen the racetrack until we landed about six hours ago."

Busch will start second after turning a lap of 169.485 mph.

"A good day for us to be able to qualify on the front row," said Busch. "I think we picked up the right amount of speed over our practice time.it's a good starting spot for us."

Kasey Kahne was third with a lap of 169.011 mph, "I was real happy with our qualifying lap and winding up third. We got around really well and look forward to Sunday. I always enjoy racing here."

Brian Vickers and Jeff Burton complete the top five.

"We're happy with that," Burton said. "That will be a good starting spot for us on Sunday. We have a really fast car."

Forty-eight cars attempted to qualify for the forty-three car field. Failing to make Sunday's Pocono 500 are Derrike Cope, Stanton Barrett, Greg Sacks, Brent Sherman and Scott Wimmer.

Notably, point leader Jimmie Johnson will take the green flag from the 10th qualifying spot.