The 2000 Indianapolis 500 winner, 1999 CART Series champion and former Formula One driver notched his first Sprint Cup pole in his 82nd start.

"I am actually surprised we're on the pole," Montoya said. "I know we always have a really good race car here, but getting our first pole is big. It takes a lot of weight off of everybody's shoulders and shows where the team is heading. It's very encouraging."

Montoya joined Travis Kvapil as the only drivers to win a pole at Talladega only on the Cup schedule. Kvapil, whose Yates Racing team ceased operations last month due to lack of sponsorship, recorded his first pole in the fall 2008 race at Talladega.

The 34-year-old Colombian driver competed in Formula One from 2001-06 before switching to NASCAR Nationwide and Cup Series competition in the latter part of the '06 season. In 2007, he scored his first Cup victory at Sonoma, CA and won rookie of the year honors in the series. Montoya finished a 2008 season- best second at Talladega one year ago.

Greg Biffle will start on the outside pole after posting the second-best lap at 188.141 m.p.h.

"It's been a while since I've had a car this fast for restrictor-plate racing," Biffle said. "The 2004 Daytona 500 was my last time."

Biffle captured his maiden pole in the '04 Daytona 500.

Martin Truex Jr., who won the pole for the first restrictor-plate event this year, the Daytona 500, qualified third.

"Talladega is a tough place," Truex said. "Really it's just about survival for us. We've run very well here in the past. We won the Nationwide race, and we run well in the Cup race."

Sam Hornish Jr. came in fourth, and Clint Bowyer was fifth.

Regan Smith, Mark Martin, winner of last weekend's race at Phoenix, Scott Speed, Brad Keselowski and David Ragan completed the top-10.

Points leader Jeff Gordon qualified 14th. Gordon currently holds an 85-point advantage over Hendrick Motorsports teammate and three-time defending series champion Jimmie Johnson, who was 36th in qualifying.

Kyle Busch, the defending race champion, will start 23rd, while Tony Stewart, the most recent winner at Talladega last October, will roll off 29th.

Robby Gordon and Reed Sorenson failed post-qualifying inspection after officials discovered their cars did not meet the minimum height requirement. Both drivers had their times disallowed and will have to start from the rear of the field. Gordon and Sorenson could be facing future penalties from NASCAR for their infractions.

Michael McDowell and Eric McClure failed to qualify.

Qualifying was halted briefly for track cleanup after David Stremme blew an engine during the second lap of his attempt.

Sunday's race is scheduled to start around 2:00 p.m. (et).