Tony Stewart is good at a lot of thing. He wins championships, he wins races, and he throws helmets with precision accuracy. One thing he isn't great at is qualifying. In fact, his pole-winning lap at Atlanta Motor Speedway Friday marked just the 14th time in his career that he earned the top spot in qualifying. For comparisons sake, he has gone to Victory Lane 47 times in the Cup Series. Needless to say, Stewart's pole run was a rarity, and it is also a bad omen for the competition. On the rare occasions that he does start up front, "Smoke" tends to finish there, as well.

Recent history also says starting up front at Atlanta is a good thing. The last 15 races at the track have been won by drivers starting 11th or better, and 13 races during that stretch have been won by drivers starting inside the top 10. Stewart has accounted for two of the wins during that span, and he has started 11th or better in all three of his career win at Atlanta.

Of course, Stewart isn't the only driver that has had a lot of success at Atlanta that is starting up front Sunday. Points leader Greg Biffle will join Stewart on the front, and as well as he has run at the 1.5-mile tracks this year, a win is certainly a possibility. Kyle Busch, Matt Kenseth and Jeff Gordon rounded out the top five in qualifying, and while Kenseth is always one of the best at 1.5-mile tracks, Busch and Gordon are both former winners. In fact, Gordon is the defending winner of this weekend's race. With both Busch and Gordon desperately needing a win to make the Chase, expect both drivers to be very focused this weekend.

Fantasy owners looking for a sleeper starting near the front should consider Marcos Ambrose. He qualified 10th for Sunday's race, and in two of his last three starts at the track, he has finished 11th or better. More importantly, he has been red hot lately. He has four straight top-10s, including three straight top-five finishes, and scored more points than any driver in the series in the month of August. Ambrose has a little momentum on his side to say the least.

Rk	Driver	Car No.	Make	Plinker	Team	Starting Pos
1	Jimmie Johnson	48	Chevrolet	Lowe's Home Improvement	Hendrick Motorsports	8
2	Greg Biffle	16	Ford	3M	Roush Fenway Racing	2
3	Matt Kenseth	17	Ford	Best Buy	Roush Fenway Racing	4
4	Tony Stewart	14	Chevrolet	Office Depot	Stewart-Haas Racing	1
5	Kasey Kahne	5	Chevrolet	Farmers Insurance	Hendrick Motorsports	11
6	Jeff Gordon	24	Chevrolet	Drive to End Hunger	Hendrick Motorsports	5
7	Denny Hamlin	11	Toyota	FedEx	Joe Gibbs Racing	7
8	Brad Keselowski	2	Dodge	Miller Lite	Penske Championship Racing	21
9	Carl Edwards	99	Ford	Subway	Roush Fenway Racing	12
10	Kevin Harvick	29	Chevrolet	Budweiser	Richard Childress Racing	24
11	Kyle Busch	18	Toyota	M&M's	Joe Gibbs Racing	3
12	Clint Bowyer	15	Toyota	5 Hour Energy	Michael Waltrip Racing	30
13	Dale Earnhardt Jr.	88	Chevrolet	Mountain Dew AMP Energy	Hendrick Motorsports	35
14	Martin Truex Jr.	56	Toyota	NAPA Auto Parts	Michael Waltrip Racing	28
15	Marcos Ambrose	9	Ford	Stanley Black & Decker	Richard Petty Motorsports	10
16	Mark Martin	55	Toyota	Aaron's Dream Machine	Michael Waltrip Racing	6
17	Ryan Newman	39	Chevrolet	U.S. Army	Stewart-Haas Racing	17
18	Paul Menard	27	Chevrolet	Menard's	Richard Childress Racing	18
19	Juan Pablo Montoya	42	Chevrolet	Clorox	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	33
20	Jeff Burton	31	Chevrolet	Caterpillar	Richard Childress Racing	26
21	Jamie McMurray	1	Chevrolet	Bass Pro Shops	Earnhardt-Ganassi Racing	20
22	Joey Logano	20	Toyota	Home Depot	Joe Gibbs Racing	9
23	Kurt Busch	51	Chevrolet	Tag Heuer	Phoenix Racing	16
24	Sam Hornish Jr.	22	Dodge	Shell/Pennzoil	Penske Championship Racing	15
25	Regan Smith	78	Chevrolet	Furniture Row	Furniture Row Racing	27
26	Aric Almirola	43	Ford	Medallion Financial	Richard Petty Motorsports	13
27	Trevor Bayne	21	Ford	Motorcraft	Wood Brothers Racing	32
28	David Ragan	34	Ford	8-Hour Alert	Front Row Motorsports	14
29	Casey Mears	13	Ford	GEICO	Germain Racing	19
30	Bobby Labonte	47	Toyota	Kingsford	JTG Daugherty Racing	25
31	Landon Cassill	83	Toyota	Burger King	BK Racing	40
32	David Gilliland	38	Ford	MHP	Front Row Motorsports	29
33	Danica Patrick	10	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Tommy Baldwin Racing	23
34	Dave Blaney	36	Chevrolet	Tommy Baldwin Racing	Tommy Baldwin Racing	22
35	Travis Kvapil	93	Toyota	Burger King	BK Racing	41
36	T.J. Bell	32	Ford	C&J Energy	FAS Lane Racing	42
37	David Stremme	30	Toyota	Inception Motorsports	Inception Motorsports	31
38	Reed Sorenson	91	Toyota	Plinker Tactical	Humphrey Smith Racing	38
39	Jason Leffler	49	Toyota	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	Robinson-Blakeney Racing	34
40	Scott Speed	95	Ford	Jordan Truck Sales	Leavine Family Racing	36
41	Scott Riggs	23	Chevrolet	North Texas Pipe	R3 Motorsports	39
42	J.J. Yeley	37	Chevrolet	MaxQworkforce.com	Max Q Motorsports	43
43	Joe Nemechek	87	Toyota	AM FM Energy	NEMCO Motorsports	37