NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series Aaron’s 499 Talladega Superspeedway Qualifying Fast Facts

Provided by NASCAR Statistics – Saturday, April 28, 2007

Bud Pole Winner: Jeff Gordon Age: 35 Team: No. 24 – DuPont Chevrolet Owner: Rick Hendrick Crew Chief: Steve Letarte

¾ Jeff Gordon won the Bud Pole for the Aaron’s 499, his 60th Bud Pole in 482 career NASCAR NEXTEL Cup races. He moved into fourth on the all-time Bud Pole winners list, breaking a tie with Darrell Waltrip.

¾ This is his third Bud Pole this season. He also started first at Texas when qualifying was canceled. This is Gordon’s seventh top-10 start in 2007 – all top-fives.

¾ This is Gordon’s first Bud Pole in 29 races at Talladega.

¾ David Gilliland (second) posted an identical qualifying time to Gordon’s. Gilliland will start second based on the tie-breaker which is current year car owner points. This is his third consecutive front-row start in a restrictor-plate race. He won the bud Pole for the Daytona 500 this season and the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega last October.

¾ Denny Hamlin (third) posted his best NASCAR NEXTEL Cup start at Talladega. Hamlin also started third in both of his NASCAR Busch Series races here (2005 and 2006).

¾ Sterling Marlin (fourth) posted his second top-10 start of 2007 and his best start since he started third at Martinsville in August 2004.

¾ Kenny Wallace (sixth) posted his best start since he started fourth at Martinsville in October 2003. That was also Wallace’s most recent top-10 start.

¾ This is the first time that the Wood Brothers have not qualified for a race since this race in 2000.