Jeff Gordon wins the pole at NHIS for the New England 300. #24-Jeff Gordon wins the pole at New Hampshire with a speed of 131.770mph, his fifth pole of 2002. Outside pole goes to #6-Mark Martin with a speed of 131.724. Only one driver missed the race, #27-Mike Bliss of the Eel River Racing team, who miss their 6th straight race as they were not high enough in owners points for ProvisionalLand. #45-Kyle Petty qualified for the race 26th and is driving an all black car in honor of his son Adam, who was killed at NHIS in May 2000. #90-Hut Stricklin was the slowest in practice Friday but gutted out a great lap and will start 16th. The two drivers out of provisionals, #7-Mike Wallace and #14-Ron Hornaday both qualified well enough to make the race (#14 = 11th, #7 = 22nd). Among the drivers using provisional starting spots are #40-Marlin, rookie #01-Leffler uses his first of the year, #4-Lapage uses the team’s 6th and they are now out until Bristol (the 24th race on Aug 25th). The two drivers who had practice accidents and had to go to backup, #11-Bodine and #25-Nadeau had to use provisionals as they were too slow in unpracticed cars. See NASCAR.com for New England 300 Lineup or That’s Racin’ for Friday’s qualifying results or MotorSportsOne – Lineup(7-20-2001)
