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Kvapil Wins Pole For Talladega

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By JENNA FRYER

The Associated Press

Published: October 5, 2008

TALLADEGA, Ala. - 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."

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.

But DEI got a huge boost when all four of its cars qualified in the top 10 for today's race. Aric Almirola of Tampa 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.," DEI president Max Siegel said. "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."

In winning the pole, Kvapil hopes he can attract funding to the team.

"Today is a big day in helping for 2009 and beyond for Yates Racing. Paul coming over and adding a third car, that's great," Kvapil said. "We're still trying to lock down all of our sponsors for ... next year. We're talking with a bunch of companies and we've had a bunch of interest, but to go out there and get those deals wrapped up, if you can go out and run good and run up front, that makes it a lot easier."

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