The 50-year-old Martin turned a lap at 124.484 m.p.h. (15.414 seconds) in his No.5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to claim his ninth pole at Bristol, which placed him a track-record tie with Cale Yarborough for most poles. Martin also won the pole here in March, as he finished sixth in the spring race.

He recorded his fifth pole of the season and the 46th of his Sprint Cup Series career, which moved him into a tie with Junior Johnson for ninth on the series' all-time pole winners list.

After finishing 31st last Sunday at Michigan, Martin dropped to 12th in points. He is just 12 points ahead of Brian Vickers, the Michigan race winner, with just three races remaining before the "Chase for the Sprint Cup" championship begins next month.

"I didn't need to choke today, and we got a great lap," Martin said.

Martin, who has won the August night-time race at Bristol twice (1993 and '98), edged Greg Biffle for the pole by 0.022 seconds.

"I just screwed up in [turns] one and two," Biffle said. "I didn't go back into the gas soon enough. The car stuck, but I just didn't have the guts to push the gas down."

Rookie Scott Speed qualified third, and Dave Blaney was fourth. Both drivers were required to qualify on time.

Matt Kenseth completed the top-five.

Clint Bowyer, Casey Mears, Joey Logano, Ryan Newman and Reed Sorenson qualified sixth through 10th, respectively.

Tony Stewart, the current points leader, will start 30th, while Jeff Gordon, second in points, will roll off 33rd.

Carl Edwards, who has won the last two night races at Bristol, will start 32nd. Edwards has yet to win a Sprint Cup race this season.

Mike Skinner, Max Papis, Mike Wallace and Aric Almirola failed to qualify.

Saturday's 500-lap race is scheduled to start just after 7:30 p.m. (et).