The Associated Press

LONG POND, Pa. - Jimmie Johnson quickly put aside the failure of a week ago and overcame a bad start Friday to win the pole at Pocono Raceway.

Johnson crashed while running third Sunday at Dover International Speedway, where he was trying to win for the third straight week. His return to the track for practice Friday was not impressive.

"We had a motor problem, and luckily we got it straightened out," he said. "We found a valve spring that failed."

Johnson realized after the team made adjustments that he could be a contender for the pole.

"Once we got out on the track, I knew all my shift points were better," he said.

But Johnson said the pole didn't make up for the failure at Dover.

"It didn't pump us up, and we lost a lot of points last week," he said. "They don't pay any points for qualifying."

Despite his roll, Johnson knows he has a considerable distance to travel to catch series leader Matt Kenseth, who is 339 points ahead of him after 13 of 36 races.

"We're seventh in points with a lot of mistakes," Johnson said. "If we can clean our mistakes up, we could be right up there."

On Sunday, in the Pocono 500, Johnson will try to regain the form that made him a winner last month in the non-points NASCAR all-star race and Winston Cup's Coca-Cola 600. He tried to nurse an ill-handling car toward the front in Dover but crashed and wound up 38th.

Johnson got his first pole of the season and fifth of his career with a fast lap of 170.645 mph. He got around the triangular track in 52.741 seconds.

But that fell far short of Tony Stewart's 3-year-old track record of 172.391 mph.

Johnson will try Sunday for his fifth career victory.

Second to Johnson's Chevrolet was the Dodge of Ryan Newman, which got around the 2 1/2-mile layout at 170.513 mph. Newman won the pole the last two weeks - giving him a series-leading four this season - and the race in Dover.

"It was a good run, obviously," Newman said. "We're happy to be on the front row where track position is very important."

Newman said his lap was a tribute to the team's ability to sense what changes need to be made to the car.

"It was good off the truck, and we worked and got it better," he said.

Bobby Labonte was third in a Chevrolet at 170.309. He will line up on the inside of the second row, flanked by teammate Stewart, who went 170.203.

Labonte was somewhat surprised by his run after being only the 18th fastest in practice. He credited Stewart's crew chief with helping him overcome a lack of speed by suggesting changes in the car's setup.

"We weren't that good and talked to Greg Zipadelli and those guys, and I have to thank them for that," Labonte said. "They helped us out."

Stewart ran his lap at 170.203, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. at 170.152.

BUSCH QUALIFYING: Being teammates with Kevin Harvick paid off Friday for Johnny Sauter as he picked up the pole for the Trace Adkins "Chrome" 300 based on Busch Series owners' points after rain washed out qualifying at Gladeville, Tenn.

Harvick is in Pocono this weekend for Winston Cup, so Sauter is driving his Chevrolet as the second driver for Richard Childress Racing. The pole for the race tonight at Nashville Superspeedway is the second of Sauter's career and first since Talladega in April 2002.

"I think Kevin's done a little bit better job keeping it up in the points than I have, but I'll reap the benefit of it," Sauter said.

IRL QUALIFYING: Tomas Scheckter has a well-earned reputation in his short Indy Racing League career as a fast driver. He is also known for crashing cars.

In a contentious rookie season driving for Eddie Cheever Jr. last year, Scheckter won a race and three poles and led five races. But he also failed to finish six of his 12 races because of accidents, leading to a nasty split from the Red Bull team.

Scheckter is back on the pole and will start on the front row tonight at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth with Scott Dixon, his Target Chip Ganassi Racing teammate. Scheckter qualified at 219.300 mph, and Dixon was at 218.654 mph.

NASCAR Busch Series

Trace Adkins Chrome 300 Lineup

Friday qualifying canceled due to rain; race Saturday

At Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville, Tenn., Lap length: 1.333 miles

Note: The field was set in accordance with the NASCAR Busch Series rule book.

1. (21) Johnny Sauter, Chevy.

2. (92) Mike McLaughlin, Chevy.

3. (10) Scott Riggs, Ford.

4. (37) David Green, Pontiac.

5. (1) David Stremme, Dodge.

6. (20) Mike Bliss, Chevy.

7. (2) Ron Hornaday Jr., Chevy.

8. (57) Jason Keller, Ford.

9. (5) Brian Vickers, Chevy.

10. (48) Shane Hmiel, Chevy.

11. (25) Bobby Hamilton Jr., Ford.

12. (38) Kasey Kahne, Ford.

13. (23) Scott Wimmer, Chevy.

14. (4) Mark Green, Chevy.

15. (59) Stacy Compton, Chevy.

16. (46) Ashton Lewis Jr., Chevy.

17. (60) Stanton Barrett, Ford.

18. (18) Coy Gibbs, Chevy.

19. (27) Joey Clanton, Chevy.

20. (87) David Reutimann, Chevy.

21. (7) Randy LaJoie, Chevy.

22. (12) Kerry Earnhardt, Chevy.

23. (26) Lance Norick, Dodge.

24. (22) Regan Smith, Chevy.

25. (49) Shane Hall, Ford.

26. (77) Brad Teague, Ford.

27. (16) Larry Gunselman, Chevy.

28. (44) Mike Harmon, Chevy.

29. (0) Jason White, Chevy.

30. (73) Jason Schuler, Ford.

31. (71) Ron Young, Chevy.

32. (39) Jamie Mosley, Ford.

33. (91) Kenny Hendrick, Chevy.

34. (52) Mike Potter, Ford.

35. (28) Brad Baker, Dodge.

36. (61) Justin Ashburn, Chevy.

37. (96) Gus Wasson, Chevy.

38. (75) Jay Sauter, Chevy.

39. (85) John Hayden, Chevy.

40. (53) Joe Buford, Pontiac.

41. (70) Don Satterfield, Chevy.

42. (97) Jimmy Kitchens, Pontiac.

43. (55) Paul Menard, Chevy.

Failed to qualify

44. (84) Brian Weber, Chevy.

NASCAR Craftsman Truck

O'Reilly 400K Qualifying

Thursday qualifying; Saturday's race

At Texas Motor Speedway, Justin, Texas, 167 laps, 1.5 mile quad-oval

1. (4) Bobby Hamilton, Dodge.

2. (14) Rick Crawford, Ford.

3. (16) Travis Kvapil, Chevy.

4. (1) Ted Musgrave, Dodge.

5. (62) Brendan Gaughan, Dodge.

6. (46) Dennis Setzer, Chevy.

7. (2) Jason Leffler, Dodge.

8. (29) Terry Cook, Ford.

9. (50) Jon Wood, Ford.

10. (18) Chad Chaffin, Dodge.

11. (59) Robert Pressley, Dodge.

12. (75) David Starr, Chevy.

13. (8) Bill Lester, Dodge.

14. (15) Rich Bickle, Ford.

15. (88) Matt Crafton, Chevy.

16. (99) Carl Edwards, Ford.

17. (08) Jody Lavender, Chevy.

18. (31) Tina Gordon, Dodge.

19. (72) Randy MacDonald, Chevy.

20. (07) Stan Boyd, Chevy.

21. (86) Phil Bonifield, Chevy.

22. (53) Randy Briggs, Ford.

23. (66) Donnie Neuenberger, Dodge.

24. (5) Jerry Hill, Dodge.

25. (23) Jamie Aube, Chevy.

26. (93) Michael Dokken, Chevy.

27. (03) Eric Jones, Chevy.

28. (58) Chris Horn, Chevy.

29. (19) Ricky Sanders, Ford.

30. (35) L.W. Miller, Ford.

31. (81) Johnny Borneman, Ford.

32. (49) Shawna Robinson, Chevy.

33. (11) Aaron Daniel, Ford.

34. (9) Lance Hooper, Ford.

35. (25) Wayne Edwards, Chevy.

36. (0) Patrick Lawler, Chevy.

Note: Qualifying canceled due to weather. The field was set in accordance with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series rule book.

IRL

Texas Bombardier 500 Qualifying

Thursday's qualifying; Saturday race

At Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth, Texas, (Car number in parentheses)

1. (10) Tomas Scheckter, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 219.300 mph.

2. (9) Scott Dixon, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 218.654.

3. (12) Tora Takagi, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 218.027.

4. (11) Tony Kanaan, Dallara-Honda, 217.149.

5. (21) Felipe Giaffone, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 216.755.

6. (15) Kenny Brack, Dallara-Honda, 216.676.

7. (31) Al Unser Jr., Dallara-Toyota, 216.043.

8. (6) Gil de Ferran, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 216.028.

9. (27) Bryan Herta, Dallara-Honda, 215.578.

10. (3) Helio Castroneves, Dallara-Toyota, 215.408.

11. (55) Roger Yasukawa, Dallara-Honda, 215.165.

12. (8) Scott Sharp, Dallara-Toyota, 215.016.

13. (26) Dan Wheldon, Dallara-Honda, 214.975.

14. (14) A.J. Foyt IV, Panoz G Force-Toyota, 214.945.

15. (13) Greg Ray, Panoz G Force-Honda, 214.598.

16. (4) Sam Hornish Jr., Dallara-Chevy, 212.498

17. (2) Vitor Meira, Dallara-Chevy, 212.142.

18. (24) Robbie Buhl, Dallara-Chevy, 211.726.

19. (91) Buddy Lazier, Dallara-Chevy, 211.565.

20. (52) Buddy Rice, Dallara-Chevy, 211.476.

21. (23) Sarah Fisher, Dallara-Chevy, 210.915.

22. (5) Jaques Lazier, Dallara-Toyota, no speed