#38-Elliott Sadler won the pole at Talladega for the EA Sports 500 with a speed of 189.943mph, his second pole for Sadler in 2003 and his career. Rookie #42-Jamie McMurray put the special paint scheme Dodge on the outside pole. #8-Dale Earnhardt Jr., who ran a lap of 188.382mph which would had put him starting 11th was disallowed when inpsectors found the rear quarter panels of the #8 Chevy 5/16″ too low, the tolerence is 1/4″, so Dale Jr. has to use a provisional to make the field and will start 38th. The penalty allowed #14-Foyt to stay 36th and make the field and knocked #30-Steve Park out of the race. Other missing the race are: #54-Bodine; #4-Lepage; #80-Bliss; #45-Petty and #0-Leffler. UPDATE: also #1-Jason Keller’s qualifying time/speed was disllowed for the sme infraction as Earnahrdt Jr., the rear quarter panels on their Dale Earnhardt Inc. Chevrolets were deemed too low in post-qualifying inspection. The required height for rear quarter panels from the ground is 35 inches minimum on the right side, with a quarter-inch tolerance after their qualifying run. Keller was to start 33rd. For qualifying results, who used provisionals, pole progression, where the rookies are and other links to lineups at JAYSKI’s Qualifying/Grid page .(9-26-2003)
