NASCAR Cup

Jeff Gordon grabs pole at PIR

Jeff Gordon grabbed his first Budweiser pole of the season with a lap of 133.675 mph at Phoenix International Raceway. It is Gordon's first pole at PIR and 53rd of his career. "We were able to carry good momentum into the corners and put a good ...

Edited: Apr 24, 2005, 12:06 AM

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Jeff Gordon grabbed his first Budweiser pole of the season with a lap of 133.675 mph at Phoenix International Raceway. It is Gordon's first pole at PIR and 53rd of his career.

"We were able to carry good momentum into the corners and put a good lap out there," said Gordon. "I am pretty excited about how the car is for the race; this is the best car that we have ever had here. We have had cars capable of winning here before we just haven't been able to put it altogether.

"It certainly doesn't guarantee anything but we are going to go out there and give it our best shot."

Gordon has never won a Cup race at PIR.

"Statistics are something a lot of people live by," said Gordon. "But it's certainly not anything this team lives by."

Kurt Busch toured the 1-mile speedway with a lap of 133.254 mph to earn the second quickest time. This is Busch's best starting spot of the season.

"I pushed my car as hard as it would go and we came up just a bit short," said Busch. "For us it is a great starting spot for us. Usually I don't see you guys in here before, I usually get to be in here after the event."

Greg Biffle was third with a lap of 133.161 mph.

"That's pretty much a miracle qualifying third. The guys worked really hard on the race car. I screwed up a little bit qualifying my Busch car.so I got a second chance when I was out there with my Cup car.we are happy to be up there starting in the top five."

Bobby Labonte and Brian Vickers complete the top five fastest times.

"A good solid night that is what we need," said Labonte. "We're really excited about coming up here with our Interstate Batteries Chevrolet. We were good in practice and qualified better than we practiced.so far we are real happy."

Hot shoe Ryan Newman, who was expected to get the pole at PIR, brushed the wall on his qualifying effort; but still managed to earn the seventh spot.

Point leader Jimmie Johnson starts 12th.

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