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NASCAR At Talladega Qualifying: Kasey Kahne To Lead Field To Green Flag

Kasey Kahne won the pole for Sunday's Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway, turning a lap of 50.017 seconds in his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet. It is Kahne's 25th-career pole, his third of the 2012 season, and his first on a superspeedway. Stewart-Haas Racing's Ryan Newman will share the front row thanks to his lap of 50.098 seconds.

Clint Bowyer (Michael Waltrip Racing) and Tony Stewart (the "Stewart" in Stewart-Haas) make up the second row, while Greg Biffle rounds out the top-five in his Roush-Fenway Ford.

Jeff Gordon (Hendrick Motorsports) will start sixth after he won the pole for the April event at Talladega. Ford chauffeurs Carl Edwards (Roush) and Trevor Bayne (driving for the legendary Wood Brothers) make up the fourth row, while Martin Truex Jr. (Waltrip) and Sam Hornish Jr. (in one of Roger Penske's Dodges) complete the top-10.

Waltrip himself qualified 11th, alongside five-time Talladega winner Dale Earnhardt Jr. of Hendrick Motorsports. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Kyle Busch and Joey Logano make up the seventh row, ahead of soon-to-be-Gibbs-driver-but-still-with-Roush Matt Kenseth and Richard Childress's Paul Menard.

Jimmie Johnson - who has endured horrendous luck on the plate tracks this season - will start 17th in his Hendrick Chevrolet, next to Aric Almirola in Richard Petty's famous No. 43 Ford. Completing the top-20 are another pair of Fusions, Germain Racing's Casey Mears and Petty's Marcos Ambrose.

Sprint Cup points leader Brad Keselowski - winner of the April event - will start from 22nd position.

For the rest of the Good Sam Roadside Assistance 500 starting grid, head on over to Jayski.com.

Photographs by coka_koehler used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.