TALLADEGA, Ala. -- This time, Juan Pablo Montoya's first pole counts.

Montoya won the pole for today's NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Talladega Superspeedway with a lap of 188.171 mph.

Montoya won the pole at Kansas last fall but the time was later disallowed after the car failed post-qualifying inspection. Thus, Montoya got to celebrate his first Cup pole again Saturday.

"It really helps build momentum for the team,'' Montoya said of the pole. "We're working to get wins. We're working to get poles, to get noticed, to get in the Chase and be a contender.''

Montoya enters today 15th in the points standings.

Montoya will be joined on the front row by Greg Biffle, who qualified at 188.141 mph. Montoya's teammate, Martin Truex Jr., Sam Hornish Jr. and Clint Bowyer complete the top five.

Dale Earnhardt Jr. starts 11th with Jeff Gordon 14th, Kyle Busch 23rd, Tony Stewart 29th and Jimmie Johnson 36th. Michael McDowell and Eric McClure failed to qualify.

No. 8 car's future

Steve Lauletta, president of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing, says that efforts continue to find sponsorship for the No. 8 car that the team quit running earlier this month.

"I'm hoping that something's going to come forward pretty quick,'' Lauletta said. "I think what we're looking at right now is a second half of the season into 2010 if we can get one of these deals done.''

Time running out?

Michael Waltrip has fallen nine spots to 25th in the points since the Atlanta race in March and that leads to more questions about his future.

Waltrip said before the season he wanted to be able to contend for wins and run better than he has with his own team or he'd look at hiring someone else to drive his car.

"I'm just a little bit disappointed in my year so far,'' he said Saturday.

"I think my car has been good, I've been fast, I've just made some mistakes. I love that car. I want to bring [sponsor] NAPA a championship. If we can figure an option of getting us closer to a championship with that team and winning more races with that team, then we're going to look at it really hard.''

Wanting improvement

Although Kasey Kahne ranks 10th in the points, he's searching for better performances from his Richard Petty Motorsports team.

"The last couple of years I feel like we've been good from about 12th to 15th on an average weekend,'' Kahne says. "I feel that's about where we are right now.''

"What gets to me is when you start getting happy with running 12th or 14th. That's not where I want to be. At times right now I leave the track and finish 13th and I'm a little upset but that's better than it could have been.

"I don't really like that attitude. That's kind of what I've been the last couple of years. I want that drive and that adrenaline to be a top-five guy.''

Pit stops

All four Richard Petty Motorsports teams changed engines this weekend after having engine problems on Friday. All four will start at the rear of the field today. ... Robby Gordon and Reed Sorenson both had their qualifying times disallowed because their cars failed post-qualifying inspection. Both cars were too low. They'll start at the rear of the field.