Carpentier reigns supreme in N.H. quals for first pole

LOUDON, N.H. -- When rain interrupted Friday's qualifying at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for 1 hour and 45 minutes, Reed Sorenson was on the provisional pole 24 cars into the session.

• Video: Carpentier wins pole

By the time qualifying was over, after 21 more cars had taken time trials on a cooler racetrack, Sorenson was a sixth-place memory, and another Dodge driver, rookie Patrick Carpentier, had claimed the top-starting spot for Sunday's Lenox Industrial Tools 301 at the Magic Mile.

Carpentier turned a lap in 29.349 seconds (129.776 mph) to win the first Cup pole of his career. Bobby Labonte (129.059 mph) will start from the outside of the front row, as post-rain-delay qualifiers grabbed the top-five spots. Kevin Harvick (128.976 mph), Scott Riggs (128.976 mph) and Dale Earnhardt Jr. (128.885 mph) qualified third through fifth, respectively.

Sorenson and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, rookie Dario Franchitti, will start sixth and seventh, followed by Martin Truex Jr., Matt Kenseth and A.J. Allmendinger.

"It's amazing," said an elated Carpentier, an open-wheel star whose best finish in 16 Cup races is a 22nd-place result in his series debut last year at Watkins Glen. "We made a couple of changes from [Friday] morning, and the car just rotated beautifully through the middle of the corner. Our Dodge was just stuck to the track.

"I'm really happy. The Berlin [N.H.] City Group is sponsoring us for the weekend -- a local dealership here in the area -- so this is amazing. I was hoping it was going to rain so that we would make the race. But it didn't, and we're on the pole, so it's pretty good."

Labonte, the 29th driver to make a qualifying attempt, looked like the pole winner before Carpentier, the 40th of 45 drivers out, knocked him off.

"After the rain delay, the track had cooled down, and that helped us," said Labonte, who hasn't won a pole since April 2004 at Texas. "It was just a good lap. I was pleasantly surprised. I didn't think it was going to be that fast with the track conditions what they were, so we're excited to get a good lap in and get a good starting spot."

Marcos Ambrose, who made his Cup debut last week at Infineon Raceway, and Tony Raines were the two drivers who failed to qualify for the race.