TALLADEGA, Ala. — Jeff Gordon led a Hendrick Motorsports rout in qualifying Saturday to win the pole for his final race at Talladega Superspeedway.
Gordon led teammates Kasey Kahne and Jimmie Johnson in a sweep of the top three starting spots for the race Sunday. Dale Earnhardt Jr. qualified fifth to put the four Hendrick drivers in the first three rows at the 2.66-mile supserpseedway.
It was the best outcome for Gordon and Earnnhardt, the only two Hendrick drivers still in the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship field. Both need strong runs — Earnhardt may actually need a victory — to advance into the third round of the playoffs.
Four drivers will be cut from the Chase field following the race. Gordon is seventh in the standings, while Earnhardt is 11th in the 12-driver field. Both drivers are six-time winners at Talladega, and Earnhardt won the spring race here.
Matt Kenseth, who is last in the Chase field, qualified fourth. Like Earnhardt, he likely needs to win Sunday to move into the third round.
Chase driver Martin Truex Jr. had his time thrown out by NASCAR as penalty for driving below the yellow line on the race track during his qualifying lap. Truex said he was unaware the rule — enforced during plate races — had been implemented for qualifying, too.
"Apparently there was a memo sent out, and I never got it," Truex said.
He’ll start last in the 43-car field, but wasn’t worried.
"We started in the back last time, too. We’ll be fine," Truex said of the spring race in which he started 36th but finished fifth.
There was a bizarre mishap on pit road when NASCAR gave Clint Bowyer the signal to begin his lap. He revved his engine and unbeknownst to him, his car was in reverse and backed hard into Justin Allgaier’s car.
Allgaier’s car suffered enough damage that his crew had to make quick repairs to get him on track for his qualifying attempt, but will need to work on the Chevrolet some more to get it fixed to race Sunday.
Bowyer said it was the "strangest" thing he’d ever been part of in racing, and felt terrible for Allgaier and HScott Motorsports, the team Bowyer will drive for next season.
"Obviously it was in reverse," Bowyer said. "As soon as I let the clutch out, it was going the wrong way. I feel really, really bad. This is supposed to be an uneventful day, I just made it eventful."
Gordon, meanwhile, continued his domination in qualifying at restrictor-plate races this season. He won the pole at three of the four plate races this year. The one miss? At Daytona in July, when qualifying was rained out.
