Point leader Greg Biffle is off to a strong start in 2012, with three third-place finishes to open the season. Friday he continued the hot streak, edging A.J. Allmendinger by just .001 seconds to claim the pole for Sunday's Food City 500 at the Bristol Motor Speedway.
Ryan Newman, Jeff Gordon, and August 2011 winner Brad Keselowski completed the top-five. Rounding out the top-10 were Regan Smith, Aric Almirola, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, and Kasey Kahne. Defending Food City 500 winner Kyle Busch was 13th, while defending Sprint Cup champion and last week's winner Tony Stewart was 23rd. Fan-favorite Dale Earnhardt Jr. was 18th quickest.
Unadilla's David Ragan was joined this weekend by Peachtree City's Reed Sorenson in representing Georgia in the Sprint Cup field. Sorenson, running the first race for the Turn One Racing effort, qualified 38th, good enough to make the show. Ragan put his Front Row Motorsports Ford in the 16th row, timing in 31st.
Missing the field were Timmy Hill, who has now failed to qualify for two of the three Sprint Cup races he has attempted (and crashed early in the one he qualified for, last week at Las Vegas) and Robby Gordon, who's self-owned team withdrew from the field when its Dodge engine would not fire.
To see where your favorite driver is starting, head over to Jayski.com.