ROUNDUP \ Saturday's events

Gordon wins pole: Jeff Gordon, the first driver to make a qualifying attempt Saturday for the Aaron's 499 at Talladega Superspeedway, posted a lap of 192.069 mph and then watched 51 other drivers fail to knock him off the pole. David Gilliland, last fall's pole winner at Talladega, matched Gordon's qualifying speed. But the four-time NASCAR champion was awarded his third pole in nine tries this year and 60th of his career by virtue of being ahead of the second-year driver in the points. Denny Hamlin qualified third at 191.551, while Sterling Marlin, off to a slow start in 2007, qualified fourth. Gilliland's teammate, Ricky Rudd, will start fifth, followed by Kenny Wallace, Casey Mears, 2006 Nextel Cup champion Jimmie Johnson, Scott Riggs and rookie David Ragan. Two-time Cup champion Tony Stewart will start 32nd, former series champion Bobby Labonte 35th, five-time Talladega champion Dale Earnhardt Jr. 36th, the three Richard Childress Racing entries -- Clint Bowyer, Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton -- 40th through 42nd and former series champion Dale Jarrett 43rd.
Labonte edges Stewart: Bobby Labonte pushed teammate Tony Stewart to the lead, then won with a dramatic pass in the last 200 yards Saturday in the NASCAR Busch Series race at Talladega Superspeedway. Labonte came away with his 10th Busch win and first since 1998, beating Stewart, a two-time Cup champion, to the finish line by less than a car-length in the race that came down to a green-white-checker finish because of a late caution. Casey Mears and Kevin Harvick were out front when debris from the battered car of Kasey Kahne brought out a caution flag on lap 115, just three laps from the scheduled finish of Aaron's 312. NASCAR waved the green flag again for the overtime finish at the start of lap 119 and Labonte, who restarted seventh, moved in behind Stewart, who was fifth, and the two Chevrolets, both owned by Harvick, worked in tandem, shooting to the front. Both zoomed past Mears by the end of the first green-flag lap and Labonte just kept pushing, Stewart, giving the two lead cars a big margin over Mears. Labonte bided his time on the final lap around the 2.66-mile oval until he came off turn four. At that point, he slipped up the banking and moved alongside Stewart, with the two cars nearly touching. As they neared the finish line, Labonte nosed ahead. His engine, which was overheating badly on the final two laps after he banged into the rear of Harvick's car, blew as he crossed the finish line with steam wafting from under his hood. Rookie David Ragan finished third, followed by rookie Kyle Krisiloff, Harvick, and rookie Juan Pablo Montoya, who led several times in the race. Dave Blaney started second but finished 32nd.
Associated Press