Texas qualifying: Gordon on front row

FORT WORTH, Texas (April 3, 2009) – Jeff Gordon, driver of the No. 24 DuPont/National Guard GED Plus Chevrolet, earned the outside pole position for Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series event at Texas Motor Speedway. Gordon, who sits atop the driver standings, is joined by teammate Jimmie Johnson in the top 10. Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Kobalt Tools/Tough Tools for Cool Schools Impala SS will start ninth. Dale Earnhardt Jr., driver of the No. 88 AMP Energy/National Guard Chevrolet, will line up 20th, and Mark Martin will start 23rd in his No. 5 Cheez-It/CARQUEST Chevrolet. Brad Keselowski, driver of the No. 25 GoDaddy.com qualified 40th in his fourth Cup attempt for Hendrick Motorsports. Gordon turned a lap of 28.392 seconds at an average of 190.194 mph during Friday’s qualifying session to capture the second spot. This marks the fourth straight race and sixth overall this season in which a Hendrick Motorsports driver has started on the front row. “I am pretty pleased to be on the outside front row,” said Gordon, who has four top-five finishes and five top-10s in five Cup events this season. “It was another good qualifying effort here at Texas for us. Hopefully we can back that up on Sunday.”