Kvapil on pole at Talladega; DEI gets boost

Kvapil’s lap of 187.364 mph in his Yates Racing Ford edged Casey Mears for the Amp Energy 500 pole.

TALLADEGA, Ala. (AP) — A pair of once-mighty teams returned to the top of the Talladega Superspeedway leaderboard with very different things to prove.

Travis Kvapil won the pole Saturday to show Yates Racing is on an upswing after several lean years, and Dale Earnhardt Inc. had a strong qualifying day to counter rumblings that the team is in trouble.

Kvapil turned a lap at 187.364 mph in his Yates Racing Ford to edge Casey Mears’ lap of 187.295 in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.

It was the first pole of Kvapil’s career and came in his 100th start. And it was the eighth Talladega pole for a car owned by Yates, which was also the last Ford team to win at this track when Dale Jarrett grabbed a 2005 victory.

“This is a place that’s really special to the Yates family and my crew chief, Todd Parrott, loves coming here,” said Kvapil. “It’s awful special. There are a lot of [No.] 28 fans in the Talladega area, so it’s pretty cool that we can come out here and get my first pole and give those 28 fans something to cheer about.”

There’s also a lot of Earnhardt fans in the area, and the loyal crowd has had little to cheer about since DEI reeled off six wins in seven races at Talladega from 2001 to 2004.

A slow slide began last year when Dale Earnhardt Jr. decided to move to Hendrick Motorsports, and the team took another hit this week when Paul Menard said he was moving with his sponsor to Yates Racing next season. It’s created a steady stream of questions about the long-term stability of the team founded by the late Dale Earnhardt.

But DEI got a huge boost when all four of its cars qualified in the top 10 for today’s race. Aric Almirola qualified third, Regan Smith was fourth, Menard was fifth and Martin Truex Jr. was 10th to give DEI something to celebrate.

“I think it says a great deal about our program and where we are at Dale Earnhardt Inc.,” said DEI president Max Siegel. “To also put three cars inside the top five, including a pair of rookie drivers with Aric and Regan, that really says a great deal about the future of our programs and where we are headed as a company.”

Carl Edwards was the highest-qualifying Chase driver and will start 12th, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. was next at 15th in a backup car after a tire problem caused him to wreck in Friday’s second practice.

The rest of the Chase field was: Jeff Burton (17th), points leader Jimmie Johnson (20), Greg Biffle (22), Jeff Gordon (26), Matt Kenseth (32), Tony Stewart (35), Clint Bowyer (36), Kyle Busch (40) and Kevin Harvick (42).

Failing to qualify were Sam Hornish and Patrick Carpentier.