Michael Waltrip led a charge of "go-or-go-home" entries to the top of the grid yesterday in qualifying for the UAW-Ford 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Ala.

The top 35 cars in NASCAR Nextel Cup owners points are guaranteed a spot in the 43-car field each week and it was the drivers who had to make it on speed and worked strictly on qualifying in practice Friday who dominated in time trials for the race today, the superspeedway debut of the Car of Tomorrow.

Waltrip, who has struggled through a generally miserable season, managed to make the race lineup for the third consecutive week, but only the 11th time this season, as he earned his fourth career pole and first since June 2005 at Pocono.

He turned a lap of 189.070 mph on the 2.66-mile oval, with Dave Blaney second at 188.838.

"I felt confident we would make the race," Waltrip said. "I wasn't thinking about the pole. Honestly, it's more important to me that we have all three [Michael Waltrip Racing] cars in the top eight."

All of those eight were drivers who had to qualify, including former Formula One champion and Indy 500 winner Jacques Villeneuve, making his Cup debut, and Waltrip's teammates David Reutimann and Dale Jarrett.

Rookie A.J. Allmendinger, Boris Said, Scott Riggs, Sam Hornish Jr., another open-wheel driver and Indy 500 winner hoping to make his Cup debut, and Jeremy Mayfield qualified ninth, 10th, 11th, 13th and 15th, respectively, but were bumped out of the field by drivers in the top 35 in points.

It was a big day for Toyota, which has had little to crow about in its first season in Cup.

Waltrip, Blaney and defending race winner Brian Vickers swept the first three positions for Toyota and Camrys took six of the top eight spots, although Jarrett, who was eighth, will have to start 43rd under NASCAR's somewhat strange qualifying format.

Jeff Gordon, a three-time Talladega winner, including the April race this year, was 45th fastest of the 51 qualifiers and will start 34th. But he said the qualifying results weren't surprising.

"This is just what we expected because those guys who had to qualify spent their time working on speed, while we were working on race setup," the four-time Cup champion said. "They're taking the risk, putting a lot into it and we've given up some speed to get ready for the race.

Formula One

Lewis Hamilton is looking to become the youngest driver to win the Formula One driving title. All he needs is a good showing at the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai. Hard rain, however, is coming, and a typhoon is not far off. McLaren's Hamilton, 22, took the pole position in qualifying for the race today with rival and teammate Fernando Alonso finishing fourth. Hamilton has 107 points and a 12-point lead over Alonso. Hamilton will become the first rookie to clinch the title if he finishes ahead of Alonso or maintains at least an 11-point margin with only the Brazilian Grand Prix to go.

Trucks

Todd Bodine barely held off Rick Crawford and Johnny Benson in a three-wide finish in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Bodine, the reigning series champion, beat Crawford by 0.014 seconds -- about the length of a hood. Benson was 0.028 seconds behind the winner, with Jason Leffler, in fourth, also less than a second behind Bodine.