one-tenth of a second quicker than second-placed Johnson. Burton took third place, ahead of Trevor Bayne, Menard and Gordon. Also in the second practice session, McMurray collided into the wall after his tire failed, and had to move to his back-up car. Forty-nine cars were entered for qualifying, but only 43 raced per NASCAR's qualifying procedure. Unlike most races during the season, the qualifying session only determined the first two positions, while the rest of the drivers qualified by the 2011 Gatorade Duels. Earnhardt clinched his 10th pole position during his career, with a time of 48.364 seconds. He was joined on the front row of the grid by Jeff Gordon. Once the qualifying session completed, Earnhardt commented, "The main thing [the pole] does for me is take the pressure off Thursday's race. I can go out and have fun and not worry about where I finish or getting a good starting spot for the Daytona 500." Kyle Busch was quickest in the rain-delayed third practice with 44.943 seconds, followed by Greg Biffle, Earnhardt, Johnson, and Juan Pablo Montoya. Earnhardt and Truex collided and hit the wall, both needing to use their back-up cars which meant Earnhardt forfeited pole position. Kasey Kahne led fourth practice with 44.985 seconds, only one-thousandth of a second faster than Joey Logano. Gordon was third ahead of David Ragan and Kyle Busch. Kurt Busch and Burton were the winners of the Gatorade Duels. The qualifying grid was finalized with Busch in third and Burton fourth. Regan Smith qualified fifth ahead of Bowyer, Kevin Harvick, Waltrip, Matt Kenseth, and Kyle Busch. Drivers who failed to qualify were 1990 winner Derrike Cope, Kevin Conway, Todd Bodine, Michael McDowell and Casey Mears. Norm Benning was entered in his no. 57, but withdrew before qualifying after his car failed to make a lap in practice. Burton was fastest in fifth practice with a 45.767 seconds lap, ahead of Menard, Ragan, Marcos Ambrose and Hamlin. Martin led the sixth session ahead of Johnson and Kahne. Brian Vickers was next with a 46.225 seconds lap ahead of Biffle with 46.426 seconds. Burton's 44.929 seconds topped the final practice session, followed by Bowyer and Keselowski. Robby Gordon and Kurt Busch rounded out the top five drivers, claiming the fourth and fifth positions respectively. Race The race began at 13:00 local time (UTC-05:00), and was televised live in the United States on Fox.