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Friday, September 7
Gordon edges Wallace for RIR pole
Associated Press
RICHMOND, Va. -- Jeff Gordon's championship drive rolled on
Friday as the Winston Cup points leader posted a fast lap at
124.902 mph to win the pole position for the Chevrolet Monte Carlo
400 on Saturday night.
Gordon, who has a 342-point lead over Ricky Rudd with 11 races
remaining in the season, earned his fourth pole at Richmond by
knocking short track specialist Rusty Wallace to the outside of the
front row.
|  | | Jeff Gordon high-fives a crew member after winning the pole for the Monte Carlo 400. |
"That was an awesome effort there today," Gordon said, noting
he started off near the bottom in practice. "We threw a lot of
things at this race car today -- changed gears three times, and
shocks and springs."
The pole is the sixth season for Gordon, the defending race
champion.
In a points race that he's taken control of over the past month,
turning a 45-point lead into its more comfortable current margin,
Gordon said things have just broken right for his team after lots
of hard work.
"It's certainly been a great stretch," he said. "It's one of
those situations where we've had good race cars, but we've also had
good luck. Those two can been great combinations, or bad for the
other guys."
Wallace, who was clocked at 124.510 mph, will start second for
the fourth time this season. He's still seeking his first pole of
the year, this after dominating the series a year ago by starting
first nine times.
"I guess the upsetting thing about it is that every single time
I've qualified second this year, I got beat right at the very end
by Gordon," said Wallace, now second to Gordon three times. "I
knew when he had to go out behind me that it was going to be a
shootout, but it was a good run."
The front row features possibly the best two short-track racers
in stock car racing's premier series, and competitors who have had
their share of confrontations on the track and in the pits at
Richmond.
In May, both seemed poised to challenge leader Tony Stewart for
the victory in a late race restart, but Wallace ran Gordon up the
track, slowing both of them down as Stewart went on to an easy
victory.
A few years earlier, after leading most of the way, Wallace was
passed by Gordon and immediately bumped him from behind in the
second turn, sending Gordon slamming into the wall in the midst of
the title chase.
Both confrontations, and many others between the two, have ended
with Gordon seething, Wallace acting surprised and the tension
festering.
But Gordon said things have improved between the rivals.
"Our relationship has been pretty interesting," Gordon said.
"Early on, I don't know if we got along very well, but recently he
and I have had some really good conversations and have joked around
quite a bit.
"I think we're understanding better that what happens on the
race track is competition. ... I don't think Rusty likes to get
beat by anyone, but I can guarantee he doesn't like to get beat by
me."
After Gordon's Chevrolet and Wallace's Ford, the second row will
have Sterling Marlin in a Dodge and Virginia native Jeff Burton's
Ford.
Burton's older brother, Ward, earned the fifth spot, also in a
Dodge, and will start just inside Bobby Labonte, the top qualifying
Pontiac.
The rest of the top 10 includes rookie Casey Atwood's Dodge,
Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s Chevrolet, Rudd's Ford and Ron Hornaday's
Pontiac.
Ward Burton, Labonte and Earnhardt are among five drivers
eligible for the $1 million Winston No Bull 5 bonus that would go
to the driver and a fan if they win. The other two are Elliott
Sadler, another Virginia native who will start 32nd, and Michael
Waltrip, who will start 41st. Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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