NASCAR NOTES: Gordon wins first pole of season

Gordon wins first pole of season

FORT WORTH, Texas - Jeff Gordon won his first Sprint Cup pole of the season with a fast lap of 191.117 yesterday at Texas Motor Speedway, where the four-time champion won his only race of 2009 in April.

It is the 68th career pole for Gordon, who is third in the points standings.

Points leader Jimmie Johnson, who is going for his unprecedented fourth consecutive title, qualified 12th. Second-place Mark Martin, who trails Johnson by points, will start seventh in tomorrow's Dickies 500.

Dale Jr.: Patrick good for NASCAR

Dale Earnhardt Jr. says Danica Patrick would be good for NASCAR, but there's nothing new to report on the IRL star joining his team.

Earnhardt told The Associated Press that other teams still were in the mix for Patrick's services. He said the talks were still in the early stages.

His comments came after ESPN reported that a deal could be in place soon between Patrick and Earnhardt's Nationwide Series team, JR Motorsports. Patrick would run a partial Nationwide schedule while running full-time in the IRL.

Kasey Kahne and Carl Edwards echoed Earnhardt's thoughts that Patrick coming over to NASCAR would be good for the sport.

Fort Hood victims to be honored

Dale Earnhardt Jr. loves to talk about his sponsorship ties to the military. He had a hard time finding words to discuss the massacre that left 13 people dead at Fort Hood.

Texas Motor Speedway is just 170 miles north of the site of a shooting spree that also injured 30, including the suspected gunman. A U.S. Army logo with the message "God Bless Our Fort Hood Troops" was painted on the infield grass yesterday. Moments of silence were planned before each event, including tomorrow's Sprint Cup race.

The first question of Ryan Newman's news conference wasn't about the massacre, but he switched gears in the middle of his answer to offer condolences. The Army is one of his sponsors.

Earnhardt, who drives the Army National Guard car, initially declined a request to speak about the incident. Approached a few hours later, he still struggled for an answer.

"It's pretty scary, and obviously there's a lot of people that are dealing with a lot of loss today," Earnhardt said after a long pause. "They have a lot of people in the hospital, so there's a lot of families upset and dealing with a lot of trouble so it's pretty difficult for everybody."

- From Wire Reports