LONG POND, Pa. - Juan Pablo Montoya's contribution to the NASCAR highlight reel so far this season was his crash into a jet dryer in the season-opening Daytona 500.
Montoya finally had a bright spot that didn't involve explosions and raging fuel fires.
He turned a lap of 176.043 m.p.h. Saturday to win the pole at Pocono Raceway. The winless Montoya won his first pole since April 2011 in Richmond, Va. He hasn't won a race since Aug. 8, 2010, at Watkins Glen.
The pole was a needed lift for Montoya and his No. 42 Earnhardt Ganassi Racing team. He's 21st in the standings and has yet to drive to a top-five finish. He only has two top 10s and has continued a string of mediocre seasons since qualifying for the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship in 2009.
Montoya admitted he was "shocked" he beat out Pocono qualifying stars such as Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano, and Kasey Kahne to lead the field in Sunday's 400-mile race.
"We know we're working in the right direction, we know we're working hard, we feel the cars are getting a little better," Montoya said, "but to go out there and get a pole ... I just went through the hauler and all the engineers, they're all happy and laughing. I'm used to long faces, a lot of long faces, a lot of stressful faces. We needed something like this as a company. This is big for us."
Hamlin turned a lap of 175.795 and qualified second. It's his 12th top-10 start in 14 career Pocono races.
Paul Menard, Kahne, and Marcos Ambrose round out the top five.
Points leader Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts eighth.
Montoya joined NASCAR in 2007 after a successful career in open wheel that included an Indianapolis 500 victory and a Monaco Grand Prix win. His 2009 season where he finished eighth in the standings turned out to be a one-year blip instead of a breakthrough into regular championship contention.
His team has undergone massive turnover - including new crew chief Chris Heroy - yet it didn't bring the No. 42 Chevrolet any better results.
Logano, who has the 14th spot, prepared for qualifying by watching a replay of his second career Cup victory at Pocono.
"I was sitting in the motorhome watching the race tape, and I'm like: 'I know who is going to win this race. This is going to be a good one,' " he said. "Those are more fun to watch."
Sunday at noon at Pocono Raceway, Long Pond, Pa.
TV: ESPN; Lap length: 2.5 miles; Car number in parentheses
DRIVER CAR TIME*
1. (42) Juan Pablo Montoya Chevrolet 176.043
2. (11) Denny Hamlin Toyota 175.795
3. (27) Paul Menard Chevrolet 175.627
4. (5) Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 175.439
5. (9) Marcos Ambrose Ford 175.432
6. (51) Kurt Busch Chevrolet 175.339
7. (17) Matt Kenseth Ford 175.169
8. (88) Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 175.131
9. (39) Ryan Newman Chevrolet 175.097
10. (48) Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 175.067
11. (78) Regan Smith Chevrolet 175.036
12. (16) Greg Biffle Ford 174.965
13. (43) Aric Almirola Ford 174.805
14. (20) Joey Logano Toyota 174.795
15. (56) Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 174.618
16. (1) Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 174.561
17. (99) Carl Edwards Ford 174.432
18. (55) Mark Martin Toyota 174.419
19. (15) Clint Bowyer Toyota 174.314
20. (18) Kyle Busch Toyota 174.277
21. (29) Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 174.213
22. (83) Landon Cassill Toyota 174.162
23. (31) Jeff Burton Chevrolet 173.92
24. (10) David Reutimann Chevrolet 173.571
25. (22) Sam Hornish Jr. Dodge 173.524
26. (38) David Gilliland Ford 173.41
27. (24) Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 173.3
28. (14) Tony Stewart Chevrolet 173.197
29. (13) Casey Mears Ford 172.864
30. (19) Mike Bliss Toyota 172.619
31. (2) Brad Keselowski Dodge 172.371
32. (34) David Ragan Ford 172.038
33. (23) Scott Riggs Chevrolet 171.916
34. (26) Josh Wise Ford 171.913
35. (37) J.J. Yeley Chevrolet 171.808
36. (30) David Stremme Toyota 171.638
37. (93) Travis Kvapil Toyota 171.246
38. (87) Joe Nemechek Toyota 170.804
39. (47) Bobby Labonte Toyota 170.658
40. (91) Reed Sorenson Toyota 170.581
41. (32) Jason White Ford owner pts
42. (36) Tony Raines Chevrolet owner pts
43. (98) Mike Skinner Ford 170.516
* miles per hour in qualifying
