Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned his first career Sprint Cup Series pole, besting Carl Edwards with a 29.227-second qualifying run late in the session to earn front row honors on Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Edwards held the provisional pole with a run of 29.330 seconds with a best speed of 189.021 mph before Stenhouse emerged as the front-runner.
Juan Pablo Montoya, who it was announced earlier today would be replaced by Kyle Larson in 2014, will start third after making the 1.54 mile loop in 29.405 seconds.
Montoya was followed by last season's race-winner and runner-up, respectively, in Denny Hamlin and Jeff Gordon. Both drivers are looking to take advantage of a high qualifying position as they each look for their first victory of 2013.
Matt Kenseth and Martin Truex Jr. will start sixth and seventh, respectively. Truex Jr. will be running this race with a cast on his right wrist after taking a hard hit last week at Bristol that broke his scaphoid bone.
Series points leader Jimmie Johnson qualified 10th.
