(Sports Network) - Jeff Gordon beat Mark Martin by just a tick to capture the pole for Sunday's Camping World RV 400 at the Dover International Speedway. The No.24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet driver and four-time NASCAR (web|news) Cup champion rounded the one-mile, concrete-surface oval in 22.921 seconds (157.061 m.p.h.). It was Gordon's third pole of the season and the 66th of his Sprint Cup Series career. Gordon is currently ranked fourth on the series' all-time pole winners list, but he is now just four poles away from tying Cale Yarborough for third on the list.

"This is a really big boost," Gordon said. "I know it's just qualifying but (it's) still (a) small victory. This is really going to boost this team hopefully to get us through this weekend. We tested in Kentucky. I feel like that was a good start in our week, and today certainly (was) a great start to the weekend."

Gordon, currently 11th in the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship standings, has 81 career race victories, including four at Dover, but has yet to win this year.

Starting alongside Gordon is Martin, who just missed the pole by 0.001 of a second. Martin turned in a lap in 22.922 seconds.

"Jeff Gordon just went incredibly fast, and we didn't get it done," Martin said.

Martin is also a four-time race winner at "The Monster Mile."

Denny Hamlin, sixth in the "Chase" standings, qualified third at 23.001, and Kurt Busch was fourth at 23.021.

Greg Biffle, last week's race winner at New Hampshire, will start fifth. Biffle moved from ninth to third in points after winning the first race in the playoffs.

The remainder of the "Chase" field will start in the following order: Clint Bowyer (sixth), Matt Kenseth (eighth), Dale Earnhardt, Jr. (10th), Kyle Busch (11th), Jimmie Johnson (20th), Jeff Burton (21st), Carl Edwards (22nd), Kevin Harvick (24th) and Tony Stewart (33rd).

Chad Chaffin, Johnny Sauter and Stanton Barrett failed to qualify.

Last Sunday's race at New Hampshire created a surprising shakeup in the standings. After dominating the "regular season" with eight victories, Busch finished 34th and dropped from first to eighth, 74 points behind leaders Edwards and Johnson.

If Busch is looking to rebound, Dover is the place where he can do it. He has scored five top-five finishes in seven starts at Dover, including a victory there in June.

Edwards is the defending race winner. He grabbed the lead from Kenseth with 38 laps to go and then held off Biffle at the finish for the victory. Kenseth, who led the most laps with 192, suffered engine failure in the very late stages and ended up finishing 35th. Edwards' car failed post-race inspection after officials found the right rear of his car to be too low. The victory held, but Edwards was docked 25 driver points as part of his team's penalty.

The green flag is scheduled to drop Sunday around 2 p.m. (et).











































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