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CUP: Gordon On Pole Again At M-Ville
Written by:
Tom Jensen
03/28/2008 - 12:27 PM
Martinsville, Va.
Jeff Gordon's Dupont Chevrolet was caught up in an eight car wreck during Shootout practice Friday night. (Chris Graythen/Getty Images Photo) ยป More Photos
Jeff Gordon, the winningest active driver at Martinsville Speedway, put his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Impala SS on the pole for Sunday’s Goody’s Cool Orange 500, turning a lap of 96.288 miles per hour.
Gordon’s lap was enough to edge the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Camry of Denny Hamlin, who went 95.757 mph. It was the seventh career pole at the 0.526-mile track for Gordon, who also has seven race victories here. Both are tops among active drivers.
“This is a very tough, frustrating place,” said Gordon. “It takes a lot of patience and I think that every young driver that comes in here probably shakes their head when come to Martinsville for the first couple of times.”
That may be, but a couple of young drivers will start from Row 2 on Sunday: Aric Almirola, who qualified third-fastest in his Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevy at 95.733 mph, and David Ragan, who ran 95.569 mph in his Roush Fenway Racing Ford Fusion. Ragan’s teammate, Jamie McMurray, completed the top five.
“I think that a lot of the other race tracks like California, Atlanta, Texas those kind of race tracks would be even more of a learning curve for me, but I’ve raced here in so many different things,” said Almirola, who ran a solid eighth at Bristol Motor Speedway two weeks earlier. “I’ve raced here in a late model, I’ve raced here in a truck, I’ve ran here in a Nationwide car when they ran Nationwide cars here two years ago. So I have a lot of laps around here in many different race cars, so that’s the one good thing is that when I show up here I know the race track.”
“We had a great car in practice and we’ve always had a good car here at Martinsville, but it’s just a matter of knowing when you can hustle it and when to take it easy,” said Ragan, who continues to show improvement in his second season in the Cup Series. “The car drove just like it did in practice, so it really wasn’t any different and I was able to get a good lap in. Usually when you just get around here with a nice, smooth lap you’re pretty fast. I didn’t think it would be that good.
Kasey Kahne was sixth in a Gillett Evernham Motorsports Dodge, one spot ahead of veteran Ken Schrader in his first race since BAM Racing switched from Dodge to Toyota. Rounding out the top 10 were JGR teammates Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart, followed by Jimmie Johnson in a second Hendrick Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had been fast in morning practice, was 22nd.
Failing to qualify were Kyle Petty, who ran an identical time to Dario Franchitti but lost a tiebreaker to him on owner points, along with John Andretti, Tony Raines and Joe Nemechek.
Tom Jensen is the Senior NASCAR Editor for SPEEDtv.com, the former Executive Editor of NASCAR Scene and a contributing Editor for TruckSeries.com. He is the author of “Cheating: The Bad Things Good NASCAR Nextel Cup Racers Do In Pursuit of SPEED,” and has appeared on numerous television and radio shows to discuss NASCAR racing. Jensen is the President of the National Motorsports Press Association.
GOODY’S COOL ORANGE 500 QUALIFYING RESULTS
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