FORT WORTH, Texas—The sun shined down on NASCAR on Friday and Jeff Gordon took full advantage of the chance to qualify for a Sprint Cup race for the first time in a month.

After qualifying was rained out three straight weeks, with NASCAR lining up the cars by points, Gordon won the pole for Sunday’s Dickies 500 on the 1.5-mile Texas Motor Speedway oval. His fast lap of 118.469 mph relegated early leader Martin Truex Jr. to second at 188.003 in the 43-car field.

It was the fourth pole of the season for the four-time series champion, as well as the 67th of his career. But...

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