After dominating here last time out, Martin Truex Jr was one of the hot picks to take pole but it was a Chaser, Jimmie Johnson, who stuck his #48 Lowes Chevy on pole (and getting the bonus point for doing so) with Juan Montoya lining up beside him...could be some fireworks at the start of the race but we'll see. Montoya has slowly been making progress recently and the last time he started this far up the grid he managed to get a top five (at Indianapolis).

I'm starting to run out of pictures for Jimmie...not that he cares about that of course

Anyway, due to Jeff Gordon's rather poor showing, we have a lead change in the standings this week as Johnson takes charge and has a four point gap over Kurt Busch.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Chase for the Plate after Qualifying 2

1 - Jimmie Johnson, 21 points
2 - Kurt Busch, 17 points
3 - Jeff Gordon, 15 points
4 - Ryan Newman, 14 points
5 - Denny Hamlin, 10 points
6 - Elliot Sadler, 9 points
7 - Juan Montoya, 8 points
8 - Kasey Kahne, 7 points
9 - Carl Edwards, 6 points
=10 - Kyle Busch, 3 points
=10 - Dale Earnhardt Jr, 3 points
12 - Jamie McMurray, 2 points

The best non-chaser was Truex so he gets the ten points this week but won't be credited with a pole position. Since Clint Bowyer wasn't able to repeat his Loudon form, Truex now has a ten point lead over the rest for 13th overall. Scott Riggs made a jump from 23rd to 17th due to being the second best non-chase driver. Two drivers got off the mark this weekend; AJ Allmendinger and David Reutimann.

Tez's NASCAR Qualifying Championship - Best of the Rest after round 28

13 - Martin Truex Jr, 39 points
14 - Clint Bowyer, 29 points (2 poles)
15 - Tony Stewart, 28 points
16 - Greg Biffle, 25 points
17 - Scott Riggs, 23 points
18 - Kevin Harvick, 21 points
=19 - Dave Blaney, 20 points (1 pole)
=19 - Reed Sorenson, 20 points (1 pole)
21 - Bobby Labonte, 19 points
22 - David Gilliland, 18 points (1 pole)
=23 - Mark Martin, 16 points
=23 - Ricky Rudd, 16 points
=25 - Casey Mears, 14 points (1 pole)
=25 - JJ Yeley, 14 points (1 pole)
=27 - Jeff Burton, 13 points
=27 - David Stremme, 13 points
29 - Robby Gordon, 8 points
30 - Matt Kenseth, 7 points
=31 - Sterling Marlin, 6 points
=31 - David Ragan, 6 points
=31 - Ken Schrader, 6 points
=31 - Kenny Wallace, 6 points
=35 - Boris Said, 5 points
=35 - Johnny Sauter, 5 points
37 - Joe Nemechek, 4 points
=38 - AJ Allmendinger, 2 points
=38 - Bill Elliot, 2 points
40 - David Reutimann, 1 point

So for the first time since I've been keeping track of this, Jeff Gordon has relinquished his lead. However, this shouldn't be cause for alarm as he hasn't really had a bad run of performance this season so he'll probably bounce back with pole next week.