Talladega, AL (My Sportsbook) - Kevin Harvick captured the pole for Sunday's Aaron's 499 Nextel Cup race at the Talladega Superspeedway. The No.29 Richard Childress Chevrolet driver circled the 2.66-mile Alabama circuit in 50.452 seconds (189.804 m.p.h.). He was the only driver to break the 189 m.p.h. mark. In fact, his warm-up lap of 51.06 would have beaten 36 other cars.

Ricky Rudd (seventh on the 2005 grid) won last year's pole with a time of 50.089 (191.180 m.p.h.).

The pole victory was Harvick's first of the season and third of his Cup career.

"We've put a lot of effort into our superspeedway program and it shows on the race track," said Harvick. "It makes it a lot of fun to just steer the wheel and have a car underneath you that is that fast."

Starting on the front row with Harvick, will be Jeff Gordon, who posted a second-best time of 50.670 seconds. The defending Aaron's 499 champion Gordon and teammate Jimmie Johnson (sixth) will be a threat to win once again.

Johnson leads the championship and has earned a top-10 or better in seven of eight starts this season. Gordon is fourth overall and has wins at Daytona and Martinsville.

Elliott Sadler (50.788) and Scott Riggs (50.808) will start in row two.

Ryan Newman (50.872) completed the top-five. He has qualified in the top-10 for every race this season.

Since the fall of 2001, Dale Earnhardt Inc. has taken six trips to Victory Lane in seven tries. Dale Earnhardt Jr. won four straight times from the fall of 2001 through the spring of 2003 and after failing twice (to teammate Michael Waltrip and Gordon in a controversial decision), came back last fall to win again.

However, DEI cars did not qualify well. The team was lead by Martin Truex Jr. in 32nd place. Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip will start 36th and 38th, respectively.

Roush Racing has won four of eight events in 2005 (Greg Biffle - 2, Kurt Busch - 1, Carl Edwards - 1), one more than Hendrick Motorsports and has four of its five drivers in the top-10.

Busch was the top Roush Racing qualifier - starting 10th in the 43-car field.

Today would have been Dale Earnhardt's 54th birthday. The "Intimidator" won 10 times at Talladega, more than any other driver in NASCAR history.

Four drivers failed to make the race, including Robby Gordon and Kenny Wallace.

The race is scheduled to begin on Sunday at 1:20 p.m. (edt).