Casey Mears wins his first pole of '07

JOLIET, Ill., July 13 (UPI) -- Casey Mears Friday won his first pole of the season, turning in the best qualifying time for Sunday's NASCAR USG Sheetrock 400 at the Chicagoland Speedway.

Mears was timed in 29.580 seconds around the 1.5-mile oval. That was .013 seconds better than Martin Truex Jr.

Ryan Newman and Mark Martin, who is running a limited schedule this year, will make up the second row.

Points leader Jeff Gordon qualified 11th.

Gordon has won four times in 2007 and has 16 top-10 finishes in 18 starts. Despite having 100 points taken away for a rules infraction, Gordon is 277 points in front of Denny Hamlin.