(Sports Network) - Paul Menard became a first-time pole winner in the Sprint Cup Series, taking the top spot for Saturday night's Coke Zero 400 at the Daytona International Speedway. The No.15 Dale Earnhardt, Inc. driver turned in a lap at the high-banked 2.5-mile superspeedway of 48.409 seconds (185.916 m.p.h.). Menard's first career pole victory came in his 57th start. His previous best start was in June at Dover where he started 13th.

"Everyone back at the shop does such an awesome job, said Menard. "It ran good at Talladega in the race...it all comes down to guys that work on it."

Menard becomes the second first-time pole winner in a row. Patrick Carpentier won last week's pole at New Hampshire.

Starting alongside Menard on the front row will be his DEI teammate Mark Martin who posted a time of 48.421 seconds. Earlier in the day, Martin announced he'll drive the No.5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports full-time beginning next year.

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (48.534) and Joe Nemechek (48.573) will make up row two.

Other drivers of note and their starting positions: points leader Kyle Busch (ninth), Matt Kenseth (19th), Jeff Burton (23rd), Jeff Gordon (26th), Jimmie Johnson (30th), Daytona 500 champion Ryan Newman (32nd) and Kasey Kahne (41st).

Despite a 17th-place starting position on the grid, Tony Stewart should be a factor in the race. Smoke" has been known for his hot streaks during the summer months. During his second championship season in 2005, all five of his victories for the year came in a seven-race stretch from June to August. Last season, he picked up back-to-back wins at Chicagoland and Indianapolis in July before his most recent victory at Watkins Glen.

Stewart won this race (formerly the Pepsi 400) in 2005 and 2006. He was running up front with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Denny Hamlin in the early stages of last year's race, but his chances of a three-peat quickly came to an end when he ran into the back of Hamlin. Hamlin spun back into Stewart, taking both drivers out. Stewart and Hamlin finished 38th and 43rd, respectively.

Boris Said will be in this year's show after rain cancelled qualifying and ended his pole-winning run last year. A fan favorite, Said qualified seventh quickest on Friday.

Defending race champion Jamie McMurray will start 40th. McMurray picked up his second career Cup victory last year at Daytona. He edged Busch to the finish line by only 0.005 seconds in what was one of the closest finishes since NASCAR (web|news) started using electronic timing and scoring in 1993. McMurray has been winless since Daytona.

The green flag is scheduled to drop on Saturday around 8 p.m. (et).



Copyright 2008 The Sports Network
All rights reserved