LOUDON -- The 2012 Chase to the Sprint Cup championship started about as poorly as it possibly could for Jeff Gordon last Sunday at Chicagoland Speedway.

On Friday, Gordon took a step toward rebounding from that rough beginning when he qualified on the pole for Sunday's Sylvania 300, the second race in the Chase, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“I think we surprised ourselves a little with this pole,” Gordon said. “We didn't expect this. We expected to run well in the race. . . . To go out and get a pole on a non-restrictor track, we haven't done that in a little while so this feels really good.”

An equipment problem and subsequent crash left Gordon, who was running fourth at the time, with a 35th -place finish week. The next-worst result by any of the other 11 drivers in the Chase was the 18th of Matt Kenseth.

Gordon came here 47 points — more than a race worth of points — behind leader Brad Keselowski, who won the race at Chicagoland. He's 21 points behind 11th-place Kenseth, too.

Starting on the pole on Sunday is no cure-all and certainly does not make up for last weekend, but it's a start.

It's a long, long way back.

“We have to score a lot more points than the other guys,” Gordon said. “The problem is that you have 11 guys that you have to do that with. It's going to have to be pretty extraordinary. Right next to miraculous.”

But not impossible.

“Miraculous things have happened so that's what keeps us motivated and keeps us going forward,” Gordon said. “Anything can happen and crazier things have happened before.”

While Gordon came out on the plus side in qualifying, Denny Hamlin had his problems.

Hamlin entered the Chase last week with the points lead and as the hottest driver in the garage. He ran out of gas late at Chicagoland and finished 16th.

He came here confident, based in part on how well he ran while finishing second to Kasey Kahne in July, and then put in the fastest lap in Friday's only Cup practice.

But he was the last of the Chase drivers in qualifying at 32nd.

Turns out, Hamlin said, that his tires were set up with the amount of air pressure needed for racing, and should have had more pressure for qualifying.

“That was a tough one,” Hamlin said. “I knew something was really, really wrong because we were just — the car was bobbing down real bad. But simple mistake. We'll rebound from it. We're quick enough. We'll get them, but that's frustrating.”

Other drivers who are in the Chase are scattered through the stating lineup.

Kyle Busch, who got squeezed out of a Chase spot by Gordon, will start alongside him in second.

“That was a pretty good lap from where we were earlier in the day,” Busch said. “Dave (Rogers, his crew chief) and the guys did a really good job making some changes to it to make it pick up speed. I felt like the car had decent balance, just needed more grip to make speed.”

Tony Stewart, who is in the Chase and third in points, starts third. He likes the starting spot.

“It's big,” Stewart said. “It s a lot shorter race, which I like the length of the race. But if you get hemmed up in the back, it can be a long day.”

Jimmie Johnson starts the race second in points, three behind Keselowski, but will start 20th.

The other Chase drivers include Kasey Kahne, starting sixth, Martin Truex Jr. in ninth and Clint Bowyer, Greg Biffle, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Keselowski and Kevin Harvick from 12th to 16th. Kenseth starts 25th.

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Allen Lessels may be reached at alessels@unionleader.com.