LONG POND, Pa. (AP) – Dale Earnhardt Jr. ended a stretch of nearly five years without qualifying in first thanks in part to a well-timed rain shower.

Earnhardt won his first pole since September 2002 with a lap of 169.975 mph and took the top spot Friday at Pocono Raceway, a huge benefit for a driver clinging to the final spot in the Chase.

“I try to get them man, but they’re hard to get,” he said. “I don’t put a lot of emphasis on poles. I probably do that that because I don’t get them so often.”

His lap after a 45-minute rain delay nudged Kurt Busch into second with a lap of 169.863 and Kyle Busch was third at 169.782. Earnhardt guessed his car would have qualified between fifth and 12th had it not rained.

Earnhardt had just put his No. 8 Chevrolet on the track for his qualifying lap for Sunday’s 500-mile race when it started raining. Once it stopped, Earnhardt took advantage of the cooler temperature and raced to his seventh career pole and first since Sept. 29, 2002 at Kansas Speedway – a span of 171 races.

Now all he needs is a win. Earnhardt has been without a victory since May 2006 at Richmond.

“Qualifying and racing are two different things,” Earnhardt said. “Qualifying takes a different kind of discipline, takes a lot of guts.”

Earnhardt needs all the strong finishes he can get in the final six races of the Nextel Cup “regular season.” He holds the 12th and final spot for the 10-race Chase. He has a 36th- and 34th-place finish in two of his last three races, and more results like that will hurt his chances significantly.

“The one thing you do feel is more of a loss of confidence,” Earnhardt said. “I feel like we keep the momentum by keeping the good attitude.”

Kyle Busch trails Junior by 13 points for 12th place. Kurt and Kyle Busch each have four top-five starts this season.

Ryan Newman and Kasey Kahne rounded out the top five. Points leader Jeff Gordon was 11th.

“I think I gave it up,” Newman said. “I just didn’t push quite hard enough in turn three. I was more worried about the car stepping out then I was pushing it fast.”

Bowyer hopes for spot in NASCAR’s chase

Some of the drivers in the hunt for the Chase are household names, mixing in winning races with radio gigs, photos on the pages of gossip magazines, and known by one-word nicknames.

Then there’s Clint Bowyer.

The media spotlight and massive fan base isn’t the only part of racing that separates Bowyer from some of the other heavyweights in the top 12. Bowyer has yet to find a way to Victory Lane.

Not this year. Not ever in a Nextel Cup race.

“It would mean a lot to win anywhere, I don’t care where we’re at,” Bowyer said.

Bowyer might best be remembered for skidding across the finish line with his car upside down and on fire in this year’s Daytona 500.

As much as Bowyer wants to win – and taking the checkered flag at Pocono Raceway would provide a needed boost – what he really hopes for is to keep a spot in the top 12 when the 10-race Chase begins.

“We have to stay consistent and keep doing what we’re doing because that’s what got us this far,” Bowyer said before qualifying Friday.

“Hopefully, that will get us in the Chase. I think that will be good enough to get us in the Chase if we don’t have any trouble.”

Bowyer has found little of that this season, finishing all 20 races and avoiding the costly crashes or faulty parts failures that have seemed to plague nearly every other driver. But his season has been far from spectacular, with one top five finish (Sonoma) and only 79 laps led.

That’s been enough to keep him in contention, but not a serious threat for the title.

“We’ve got to find that next step where we’re running in the top five, finishing in the top five and racing for a win,” Bowyer said.

“We’ve ran in the top five several times, we just haven’t gotten that finish.”

Bowyer is stumped why he can’t drive the No. 07 Chevrolet to Victory Lane. But if he has any shot of competing for the championship, his Richard Childress Racing team needs to find a quick answer.

“We have to get in the top five. We have to start racing for wins,” he said.

While the drivers’ point totals were reset in five-point increments when the postseason began in previous seasons, all drivers’ totals this year will be reset to 5,000, and each will receive a 10-point bonus for each victory during the first 26 races.

“The big thing is to get as many wins as you can get before the Chase starts to get those bonus points,” said Tony Stewart, fifth in the standings. “Whether you’re first or 12th it doesn’t matter. It’s how many races can you win and get those 10 extra bonus points.”

That puts Bowyer at a severe disadvantage if he keeps his place in the field over the next six races. Bowyer and Dale Earnhardt Jr., who sits in the 12th and final spot, are the only two drivers in the field who haven’t won a race this season, which would put them in the back of the field.

The field also was expanded from 10 to 12 drivers this year.

“Once you get in that Chase, you better start running for a championship and win a championship,” Bowyer said. “Hopefully we can find what we’re missing there and start going for broke.”

With former champs like Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Matt Kenseth and Jimmie Johnson all in the top 12, Bowyer would be chasing the title against an experienced group that knows how to win down the stretch.

“You’re part of an elite group,” Bowyer said. “You’ve been given that opportunity. Now you’ve got to take care of it.”

Maybe a Nextel Cup title will force people to pay attention to Bowyer. With Junior talking to a mosh pit of media only four haulers down on Friday, Bowyer amicably chatted in front of a a couple of cameras and maybe seven or eight writers.

So far, the notoriety has eluded the Kansan as much as a trip to Victory Lane.

“It doesn’t bother me one bit,” Bowyer said.

Bowyer finished with four top fives last season, but lacked the overall consistency he’s had this season, and finished 17th in the final standings.

Bowyer said he predicted that this would be the season he would finish in the Chase, and maybe even gain some attention from the NASCAR community. He’s not even the biggest name in the RCR stable with most of the attention focused on veterans Kevin Harvick and Jeff Burton.

Burton is fourth in the standings.

“When we’re struggling, they’ll come over and help me out,” he said.

Only next week’s race on the road course at Watkins Glen concerns Bowyer over the final six races. He keeps an eye on the standings and knows the fight for the final few spots is so tight that only one or two bad races over the final six of the “regular season” could knock him out of a spot.

Nothing would be sweeter for Bowyer than winning his first race and championship in the same season.

“If you’re not one of those 12 cars come Chase time, you’re working on next year,” he said.

AP-ES-08-03-07 1823EDT