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(AP) -- Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the pole for Saturday night's "regular-season" Sprint Cup finale at the Richmond International Speedway.

Earnhardt first pole since the 2011 Daytona 500 came at the expense of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon who was bumped to the outside of the front row.

Gordon needs a strong race Saturday night and a little bit of help to earn one of the two wild-card berths in the 12-driver Chase field.

He's in a battle with Kyle Busch for the last spot. Busch qualified 15th.

Carl Edwards will start 16th.

(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)