Veterans Labonte, Elliott occupy front row

FORT WORTH, Texas — Move over "Young Guns," some of those old NASCAR drivers aren't done yet.

Bobby Labonte and Bill Elliott, seasoned veterans and past champions, will start on the front row today in the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

The younger generation of drivers has dominated the early part of the Nextel Cup schedule, winning all six races. They had also filled just about every front-row starting spot — until now.

"That's just going to be part of the sport," said Elliott, whose first full season was 1983. "Eventually, it keeps weeding the older generation out."

Elliott, running a limited schedule as he makes a slow transition to retirement, is in only his second Nextel Cup race this season. The 1988 Cup champion qualified for the No. 2 spot at 193.729 mph, just ahead of Kasey Kahne.

"I'm just trying to keep up with Kasey," Elliott said of the rookie driver who next week turns 24, half Elliott's age.

Kahne took over full-time in Elliott's old No. 9 Dodge owned by Ray Evernham. While hoping to also run 10-12 races, Elliott is serving as a mentor to Kahne and helping in the rookie's early success.

"Absolutely, he's been a big part of it," Evernham said. "There's several parts to it. Bill's certainly the icing on the cake. Even Friday, when Kasey got in the car, I asked him if he had talked to Bill. He said, 'Oh yeah,' and then they ran almost identical laps."

Labonte, in his Chevrolet, became the first multiple pole winner in Texas. No driver has won more than one Cup race at the 1 1/2-mile high-banked track.

All seven former winners will race today. The highest qualifier was seventh by Dale Earnhardt Jr., who got the first of his 11 Cup wins at Texas four years ago.

Greg Biffle, who is 34 but in just his second Cup season, starts his Ford fourth. That is just ahead of another grizzled veteran, 11th-season Cup driver Joe Nemechek in a Chevrolet.

"I know what it takes to go fast here, which helps," said Nemechek, who has a fourth-place Cup finish, along with a Busch win and three other top-fives at Texas.

Before Labonte, Biffle was the oldest Nextel polesitter this season, at the opening Daytona 500. Ryan Newman, the 26-year-old defending Samsung/RadioShack 500 winner, and Kahne won the only other poles. Newman has a season-high three poles, and the rookie has two.