Full Throttle

Joe Nemechek took his first pole of the season and the seventh of his NASCAR Nextel Cup career Friday, earning the top spot for the EA Sports 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. “We’ve been right on top of our game,” said Nemechek, who got around the steeply banked 2.66-mile oval at 190.749 mph.

“I thought we could run faster than that,” said Nemechek, who earned the nickname “Front Row Joe” because of his qualifying prowess. “But everybody’s got to go through that (pre-race inspection) room over there and get equalized. But we were fast in practice and everything went right.”

Am I being overly skeptical, or does the phrase “… get equalized” sound like Joe may have had a little something “extra” or “different” during practice?

Pos. Car Driver Make Sponsor Speed

1 #01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 190.749 50.202 Leader
2 #21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft/Rent-A-Center 190.609 50.239 -0.037
3 #88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 190.374 50.301 -0.099
4 #10 Scott Riggs* Chevrolet Zerex/Valvoline 190.310 50.318 -0.116
5 #24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 189.763 50.463 -0.261
6 #38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M’s 189.751 50.466 -0.264
7 #17 Matt Kenseth Ford Smirnoff Ice/DeWalt 189.710 50.477 -0.275
8 #97 Kurt Busch Ford Sharpie/IRWIN Industrial Tools 189.676 50.486 -0.284
9 #19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 189.526 50.526 -0.324
10 #8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 189.481 50.538 -0.336
11 #02 Hermie Sadler Ford East Tennessee Trailers 189.477 50.539 -0.337
12 #16 Greg Biffle Ford National Guard/Subway 189.466 50.542 -0.340
13 #30 Jeff Burton Chevrolet America Online 189.391 50.562 -0.360
14 #15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 189.354 50.572 -0.370
15 #29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 189.260 50.597 -0.395
16 #48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe’s 189.133 50.631 -0.429
17 #6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 189.115 50.636 -0.434
18 #43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 189.081 50.645 -0.443
19 #12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 189.017 50.662 -0.460
20 #11 Ricky Craven Chevrolet Old Spice 188.980 50.672 -0.470
21 #25 Brian Vickers* Chevrolet GMAC Financial Services 188.965 50.676 -0.474
22 #133 Kerry Earnhardt Chevrolet Bass Pro Shops/Tracker 188.954 50.679 -0.477
23 #9 Kasey Kahne* Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 188.887 50.697 -0.495
24 #42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco/Havoline 188.842 50.709 -0.507
25 #99 Dave Blaney Ford Roush Racing 188.786 50.724 -0.522
26 #77 Brendan Gaughan* Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 188.768 50.729 -0.527
27 #18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 188.508 50.799 -0.597
28 #0 Ward Burton Chevrolet NetZero HiSpeed 188.489 50.804 -0.602
29 #22 Scott Wimmer* Dodge Caterpillar 188.452 50.814 -0.612
30 #20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 188.408 50.826 -0.624
31 #06 Chad Blount Dodge Mobil 1 188.082 50.914 -0.712
32 #40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light/Rascal Flatts 188.074 50.916 -0.714
33 #2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 188.030 50.928 -0.726
34 #41 Casey Mears Dodge Target/Breast Cancer Awareness 187.953 50.949 -0.747
35 #45 Kyle Petty Dodge Georgia-Pacific/Brawny 187.890 50.966 -0.764
36 #31 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 187.886 50.967 -0.765
37 #49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan’s Home Service 187.849 50.977 -0.775
38 #5 Terry Labonte Chevrolet Kellogg’s 187.691 51.020 -0.818

Provisional

39 #32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 185.427 51.643 -1.441
40 #4 Jimmy Spencer Chevrolet Lucas Oil Products 187.471 51.080 -0.878
41 #09 Mike Wallace Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 187.350 51.113 -0.911
42 #198 Larry Gunselman Ford Mach One Inc. 181.598 52.732 -2.530
43 #1 Kenny Wallace Chevrolet Aaron’s 187.629 51.037 -0.835

Did not Qualify
44 #137 Kevin Lepage Dodge Carter’s Royal Dispos-all 186.499 51.346 -1.144
45 #172 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford Vote for Bush 185.664 51.577 -1.375
46 #280 Carl Long Ford Commercial Truck & Trailer 179.571 53.327 -3.125

* Denotes Rookie