Earnhardt Jr. Takes The Pole For Kobalt Tools 500

Sports News - March 6th, 2010 - Written By Scott Mills

Heading into the 2010 NASCAR season, Dale Earnhardt Jr. realized that things could not get much worse after a forgettable 2009 campaign. He finished 25th in the Sprint Cup Standings and did not win a race all year. In fact, out of 36 races, he only led 146 laps and did not live up to the expectations set on him racing for Hendrick Motorsports.

"You've just got to try to be confident," he said. "We got beat down last year. We figured we'd have a chance to start new this year. It's a better race team. We're working well together. It's a really, really good group of guys and I just hope we have success. They deserve it."

Earnhardt Jr. got off to a fast start this year finishing second in the opening race at Daytona, only to follow up with with a 32nd place finish in California and a 16th place finish in Las Vegas last week. He will look to get his first win since June 15, 2008 and seems to be in a good position as he claimed the pole on Friday night (his first since April 2008) for Sunday's Kobalt Tolls 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

"It's good to be on the pole and I'm real proud of it," Earnhardt said. "Getting a pole anywhere is good for our team. We're so hungry to do well on Sunday."

Mark Martin won the pole in last year's race in Atlanta, but finished just 4th on Friday for this weekend's Kobalt Tools 500. Kyle Bush will start from the outside of the front row and Jeff Gordon finished 5th to give Hendrick Motorsports three of the the top five spots.

Earnhardt has his odd set at 10/1 according to Bodog Sportsbook to win the Kobalt Tools 500 which begins at 1 pm on Sunday afternoon. He is currently in 15th place in the Sprint Cup Points Standings. Gordon and Martin are clear favorites as well and have their odds set at 8/1. Johnson enters the race with 9/2 odds on winning Sunday.

Kevin Harvick is the current points leader followed by Clint Bowyer, Martin, Matt Kenseth, and Johnson round out the top 5 spots. Earnhardt has his NASCAR odds at 20/1 to win the 2010 Sprint Cup Championship while Johnson is the favorite with his odds set at 2/1.