All News Brian Vickers Jamie McMurray Jeff Gordon Kevin Harvick Kirk Shelmerdine Mark Martin Ricky Rudd Ryan Newman Scott Riggs Stanton Barrett Sterling Marlin Ward Burton

StockCarFans.com – Ramblings – Martinsville:

April 16, 2004 at 12:00 AM
  • Usually Fridays belong to #12-Ryan Newman….but this is Martinsville and another driver owns this place. #24-Jeff Gordon grabbed the Bud Pole award today for Sunday’s Advance Auto Parts 500 with a lap of 20.252 seconds (93.502 mph). It was his third pole in a row at this half-mile paper clip, his 5th overall (DW had 8 here), and the 47th of his Cup career. He now becomes the 5th qualifier for next February’s Budweiser Shootout. Gordon was over 1/2 10th quicker than #42-Jamie McMurray….and that’s pretty sizeable considering that 1st to 13th was only separated by two 10ths.
    #29-Kevin Harvick (5th) has his best starting spot he started 5th when we were here last October.
    #0-Ward Burton (6th) has his best starting spot since he started on the outside pole when we were here last fall.
    #10-Scott Riggs (13th) has his career-best starting spot for Sunday’s event. His previous best was 15th at Las Vegas last month.
    #21-Ricky Rudd (14th) has his best starting spot since he started 12th here last October.
    Think there were a lot of guys happy to see this race come up on the calendar?
    Only two sets of ties today (unusual for this place). Sterling Marlin & Mark Martin tied for 18th & 19th and Brian Vickers & Stanton Barrett tied for 35th and 36th. Remember, the tie-breaker is owners points.
    STREAKIN….Jeff Gordon has 5 Top-10’s in a row. Ryan Newman has 6 Top-10’s in the last 7 races.
    NASCAR did a little revising today on their original starting grid. Upon further review, they decided that #72-Kirk Shelmerdine was out of provisionals (he’s not eligible for his next freebie till we get to Charlotte the end of next month), so he was the lone passenger on this week’s Trouble Train.(StockCarFans.Com Nextel Cup Newsletter)(4-16-2004)