Texas Qualifying Report

No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
October 31, 2008
1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway

QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1. Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet
2. Martin Truex, Jr., Chevrolet
3. Clint Bowyer, Chevrolet
4. Jamie McMurray, Ford
5. Dale Earnhardt, Jr., Chevrolet
35. Bobby Labonte, No. 43 Cheerios/Betty Crocker Dodge
46. Chad McCumbee, No. 45 Marathon American Spirit Motor Oil Dodge

Before Friday, Jeff Gordon had never won a race or a pole at the Texas Motor Speedway. He can now cross a pole award off his list as he put down the fastest lap in the time trials for Sunday’s Dickies 500. Martin Truex, Jr., who won the pole for this race in 2007, will start on the outside of the front row.

Texas native Bobby Labonte will start the race from the 35th position. Labonte, who is tied for first in career poles at Texas, picked up .6 seconds from his practice time. He will be looking for his first career Texas win when the green flag falls of Sunday.

“Qualifying was like our first lap on the track,” said Labonte. “We made so many changes after practice that we weren’t quite sure what to expect. We were on the experimental side this morning because we wanted to try something different. We needed to improve our intermediate program a little so we thought we’d try something different. We still don’t know exactly what we have. We picked up some speed which I hope will give us some direction for tomorrow.”

Sunday’s race will be televised live on ABC. It will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network (PRN) and Sirius Channel 128. Pre-race coverage is scheduled to begin at 2:00 PM EDT.