FORT WORTH, Texas - For Bill Elliott, it was as if he hadn't even missed a race. He got in the car and went right back to the front of the field.

Elliott, the semiretired driver, ran a qualifying lap of 193.729 mph Friday and will start in the No. 2 position in just his second NASCAR Nextel Cup race of the season, the Samsung/RadioShack 500 on Sunday.

The former series champion hadn't been in a Nextel car since finishing 20th in Las Vegas a month ago.

''Honestly, I don't even feel like I've missed a race from my standpoint,'' said Elliott, who will start alongside pole-sitter and Texas fan favorite Bobby Labonte.

''This is no different than it being the second race of the season rather than the seventh,'' Elliot added.

Labonte sits on the pole at Texas for the second straight year, and on the front row for the fourth time, after a lap of 193.903 mph. The No. 18 car owned by Joe Gibbs will be the first Chevrolet to start on the pole this year.

While Labonte became the first multiple pole winner at Texas, nobody has ever won from the front row on the high-banked, 1 1/2-mile track.

Rookie Kasey Kahne, who took over full-time in Elliott's old No. 9 Dodge owned by Ray Evernham, qualified third at 193.673.

Elliott is running a limited schedule for Evernham Motorsports. He hopes to run 10 to 12 races, but a lack of sponsorship could keep that from happening.

Elliott owns the TMS qualifying record at 193.514 mph, set two years ago when he finished ninth for his only top-10 at the track. He led 43 laps after starting sixth last year, but only completed 46 before engine problems ended his day in last place.

Kahne will make his fifth top-five start, and already has three top-three finishes. But he dropped from fifth to 11th in points last week after he collided with Jamie McMurray at Bristol and was knocked out of the race, finishing 40th.

''We put it behind us and qualified third today, so we're looking good this week,'' Kahne said. ''I was upset when it happened to be out of the race that early, especially with as good of a car as we had.''

Greg Biffle will start his Ford fourth, just ahead of the Chevrolet of Joe Nemechek.

Defending Samsung/RadioShack 500 winner Ryan Newman qualified 15th in his Dodge, and was 10 spots ahead of Nextel Cup points leader Matt Kenseth's Ford.

''That's all we had,'' Newman said after his lap of 191.891 mph. ''The car was pretty balanced, but we just didn't have the speed. It's a new car and we need to shake it out in race trim. Bobby Labonte won the pole here last year and we won the race, so it would suit me just fine if it works out that way again.''

Newman started third last year. Kenseth won at Texas in 2002 when he came from the back of the field after making an engine change.

Bobby Labonte and his brother, Terry, both former season champs, are from Corpus Christi. While it's a 7 1/2-hour drive from Texas Motor Speedway, it's the only Nextel Cup track in their home state.

''I was here a few years ago when Terry won. It ranks on Terry's list as one of the top wins he ever had,'' Bobby Labonte said. ''I'm sure it'd be the same way with me, it'd be awesome. We'd love to build some momentum, and Texas would be a good place to do that.''

Labonte, who earned his 26th career pole, is 13th in the season standings after finishing 33rd a week ago in Bristol. But he never led a lap at Texas last year and finished 37th after a crash.