by DON COBLE , Florida Times-Union

By running a lap of 191.117 mph at Texas Motor Speedway, Gordon not only moved to fourth on NASCAR's all-time qualifying list, he extended his streak of winning at least one pole in each of the past 17 seasons.

"Better late than never," he said. "We weren't waiting. We've been very close. It's like a win. You want to get it early and get it out of the way. It doesn't matter to me if you get it the first race or the last race, as long as we get it."

Gordon trails Richard Petty, David Pearson and Cale Yarborough in the qualifying record books.

Gordon's 68th career pole will allow him to start Sunday's Dickies 500, the 34th of 36 races, from the front.

Kasey Kahne was second-fastest at 190.975 mph.

BRUMOS DOWN TO ONE CAR

Brumos Racing will reduce its effort in the Grand-Am Series next year to one car, a move that cost recently suspended J.C. France his job.

The Jacksonville-based team will campaign a No. 59 Porsche-powered Riley prototype for Darren Law and David Donohue, team owner Dan Davis said Friday.

Joao Barbosa, who drove with France in the No. 59 car last year, will join Terry Borcheller in a new team that will have a technical alliance with Brumos.

Law and Donohue were in the No. 58 last year, and they started the season with a victory in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona.

France was suspended by NASCAR and Grand-Am after being arrested last month on a charge of driving under the influence and street racing in Daytona Beach. He also was charged with possession of cocaine.

JUNIOR: NO NEWS ON DANICA

Dale Earnhardt Jr. said Danica Patrick would be good for NASCAR , but there's nothing new to report on the IndyCar star joining his team.

Earnhardt said Friday that other teams were still in the mix for Patrick's services.

His comments came after ESPN reported that a deal could be in place soon between Patrick and Earnhardt's Nationwide Series team, JR Motorsports. Patrick would run a partial Nationwide schedule while running full-time in the IRL.

"She will be good for NASCAR , whoever gets her," Earnhardt said.

KENSETH ON NATIONWIDE POLE

Matt Kenseth will start on the pole for the Nationwide Series race at Texas, five spots ahead of points leader Kyle Busch.

Kenseth earned his first pole in his 13 Nationwide races this season, the 16th in his career, with a qualifying lap of 187.201 mph in his Ford. David Ragan also will start his Ford on the front row.

NEWMAN TALKS TO NASCAR

Ryan Newman came to Texas Motor Speedway Friday with a couple of chipped teeth and the hope he will be part of the solution to NASCAR's problems at Talladega Superspeedway.

Newman was very critical of the sanctioning body after his Chevrolet went airborne and flipped on its roof at 190 mph along the backstretch. He was outspoken after Carl Edwards flipped and crashed into him on the final lap of the April race at Talladega.

Newman met with competition director John Darby and vice president Robin Pemberton on Wednesday to talk about his accidents - and ways to keep cars from flying during an accident.

"There's things that I feel can and should be done," Newman said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

SPRINT Cup SERIES: DICKIES 500

When: 3:15 p.m. Sunday.

Where: Texas Motor Speedway, Fort Worth.

TV: ABC.

Pole winner: Jeff Gordon.

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