The Associated Press

TALLADEGA, Ala. - Although Jeremy Mayfield got his first pole in more than two years, he doesn't figure the Talladega Superspeedway aces from Dale Earnhardt Inc. should be too worried.

"That doesn't change anything," Mayfield said of Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Michael Waltrip. "We beat them in qualifying, but they don't ever qualify that well."

Mayfield qualified his Dodge at 186.489 mph. Earnhardt Jr., who has won the last three races on the 2.66-mile oval, was 13th-fastest. Waltrip will start Sunday's Aaron's 499 from the 16th spot in a field of 43.

Earnhardt Jr. and Waltrip have combined for seven victories in the last seven races at Talladega and Daytona International Speedway - the tracks where NASCAR requires carburetor restrictor plates.

"It's no secret, though, that those two are going to be the ones to beat," Mayfield said after his seventh career pole. "It will be tough to beat those DEI cars, but I think we have definitely closed the gap."

Mayfield, who joined Ray Evernham's team at the start of 2002, got his first pole since October 2000 at Rockingham.

Mayfield had not qualified better than 10th this season. He also is without a top-20 finish since running eighth in the season opener in Daytona.

"I really believe we've got a good race team here and ... I knew we were going to have a good car," he said. "I just didn't know it was going to be this good. It's the best since I've been here with this team."

Kevin Harvick was second in a Chevrolet at 186.166, followed by the Ford of Elliott Sadler at 186.047, the Chevy of four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon at 186.021 and the Dodge of Bill Elliott, Mayfield's teammate, at 185.956.

Earnhardt was disappointed after going 185.176. His Monte Carlo had been the fastest in practice.

"We should have run a little faster than that," he said. "But we kind of had a little trouble getting through (inspection), and I think it slowed the car down a little bit.

"But we ain't never really been great qualifiers here. We don't have any poles at Daytona or Talladega. We just race good, and that's all that really matters."

Waltrip, who won the Daytona 500 this year for the second time, ran 184.729. He also appeared unconcerned about his qualifying effort.

"We'll just race them on Sunday," he said. "The car is running good and we should be good on Sunday."

Rounding out the top 10 were Robby Gordon; Jimmie Johnson; Ryan Newman, last week's winner at Texas; Mark Martin; and rookie Casey Mears.

Johnson said a new template measurement from NASCAR hurt some of the drivers.

"It looks like it slowed down the 24 (Gordon), us and the 8 (Earnhardt) and a couple of other guys," Johnson said. "We're kind of bummed, but there's nothing we can do.

"We've just got to find another way to get a little bit more speed. We'll be fine on Sunday."

Series points leader Matt Kenseth, Martin's Roush Racing teammate, was 27th, just behind another teammate, Kurt Busch. Kenseth leads Busch by 155 points.

David Green initially was listed sixth in the field, but his speed was disqualified after his car was found to be too low in the rear. That moved Mike Wallace into the field and sent Green home along with Larry Foyt and Brett Bodine.

FORMULA ONE: Mark Webber became the first Jaguar driver to turn a fastest lap in Formula One qualifying, finishing ahead of Ferrari's Rubens Barrichello at the Brazilian Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Five-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher had the fifth-fastest lap on the 2.671-mile Interlagos circuit in the first round of qualifying, finishing in 1 minute, 25.585 seconds.

Webber, who started his Formula One career last year, had a time of 1:23.11. Barrichello was second in 1:23.249.

Malaysian Grand Prix winner Kimi Raikkonen, of McLaren, was third in 1:24.607, and teammate David Coulthard was fourth in 1:24.655. Five-time Formula One champion Michael Schumacher was fifth.

Schumacher, looking for his first top-three finish of the season, has won four times at Interlagos - in 1994, 1995, 2000 and 2002 - and has finished in the points in each of his 11 Brazilian GP races. He was satisfied with his qualifying run.

This weekend

NASCAR WINSTON CUP

Aaron's 499

Site: Talladega, Ala.

Schedule: Sunday, race (Fox, noon).

Track: Talladega Superspeedway (tri-oval, 2.66 miles, 33 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 500 miles, 188 laps.

Last race: Ryan Newman passed Dale Earnhardt Jr. with 10 laps to go and went on to win the Samsung/RadioShack 500 to become the seventh different winner at Texas Motor Speedway.

Next race: Virginia 500, April 13,

Martinsville.

BUSCH SERIES

Aaron's 312

Site: Talladega, Ala.

Schedule: Today, race (Fox, 2 p.m.).

Track: Talladega Superspeedway (tri-oval, 2.66 miles, 33 degrees banking in turns).

Race distance: 312 miles, 117 laps.

Last race: Joe Nemechek won his second race of the season at the O'Reilly 300, crossing the finish line under caution in an event marred by two red flags and eight other caution periods at TMS. Nemechek was in front on the restart on the 196th of 200 laps after the second red flag.

Next race: Pepsi 300, April 12, Gladeville, Tenn.

FORMULA ONE

Brazilian Grand Prix

Site: Sao Paulo

Schedule: Today, qualifying (Speed Channel, noon); Sunday, race (Speed Channel, 12:30 p.m.).

Track: Interlagos, Jose Carlos Pace (road course, 2.671 miles).

Race distance: 192.02 miles, 71 laps.

Last race: McLaren recorded its second win in as many races this season after Kimi Raikkonen won the Grand Prix of Malaysia on March 23, 39 seconds ahead of second-place Rubens Barrichello. Three-time defending champion Michael Schumacher finished sixth.

Next race: San Marino Grand Prix, April 20, Imola, Italy.