Dale Jr. 'starving' for good finish in Atlanta

Dale Earnhardt Jr. is doing his best to forget 2009.

Not a bad way to start.

Junior will be on the pole for the first time in nearly two years today for NASCAR's Sprint Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, giving the popular, second-generation driver another reason to believe he has left behind the most dismal season of his career.

"It's definitely a step in the right direction," he said.

Then again, Earnhardt has more in mind than just starting races out front. He wants to be there at the end, too.

"We are starving for a good finish," said Earnhardt, who has gone 60 races since his last Cup win, on June 15, 2008, at Michigan. "That is really all we can think about."

Earnhardt's confidence was devastated during a winless 2009. His crew chief was fired midway through the season in hopes of turning things around, but nothing worked. Junior cracked the top five only twice and led a mere 146 laps in 36 races.

It wasn't like he was with a mediocre team, either. Earnhardt's three Hendrick Motorsports teammates - Jimmie Johnson, Mark Martin and Jeff Gordon - went 1-2-3 in the season standings. Junior didn't even make the Chase for the Championship and wound up 25th overall.

"We just got beat down last year," Earnhardt said.

Earnhardt's redemption season got off to a promising start with a hard-charging second-place finish at Daytona, where he has had some of his greatest successes and was dealt his most devastating loss - the 2001 death of his father in a last-turn crash. Earnhardt knew a strong showing at NASCAR's most famous track wasn't necessarily an indication he would be a contender anywhere else, though. It's about doing it week after week.

"We're not the total package," Earnhardt said. "We haven't cured everything, obviously."

He was doomed by a broken axle at California, finishing 12 laps behind. He qualified fourth at Las Vegas last week and was in contention for a top-10 finish before he dropped to 16th.

Now, he's on the pole for the Kobalt Tools 500 - the first time he'll lead the field into a race since April 2008 at Texas.

Earnhardt's blistering lap of 192.761 mph was the fastest pole speed since 2007, before the boxier Car of Tomorrow made its full-time Cup debut. In fact, nearly everyone went faster than the pole-winning speed for the spring race at Atlanta a year ago.

"It's actually crazy how fast it is," said Juan Pablo Montoya, who will start inside the second row.