HAMPTON, Ga. — Ricky Stenhouse Jr. wanted to run at the top of the track.

His car owner told him to stay on the bottom.

Good thing the rookie listened.

Stenhouse won the first Sprint Cup pole of his career Friday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway, turning a harrowing lap of 189.688 mph on the 1.54 tri-oval.

His previous best qualifying effort of a difficult first full Cup season was third at Kansas.

“When we unloaded the car, we weren’t very good,” Stenhouse said. “We kept making changes, making big changes, and got it where we needed to be.”

It also helped that he heeded the advice of car owner Jack Roush.

Carl Edwards, a teammate at Roush Fenway Racing, had posted the fastest time of the night running a high line.