Through 49 of 51 cars, #23-Kenny Wallace sat on the pole for Friday night’s Food City 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway, but knew #81-Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had yet to qualify, would be tough. He was right. Earnhardt Jr. beat out Wallace for the top spot. But the final driver to attempt to qualify, #74-Tony Raines, beat Wallace, too, and almost caught Earnhardt Jr. Earnhardt Jr. posted an event record lap at 126.570mph. Raines came in at 126.537 mph and Wallace at 126.071 mph. #21-Kevin Harvick and #37-David Green completed the top five. Series points leader #8-Martin Truex Jr. will start 12th . Truex, Earnhardt Jr. and #11-Paul Menard are all driving entries owned in part by Dale Earnhardt Inc. For Earnhardt Jr., the pole was his first in the series since July 2003 at Daytona Beach, Fla., and the ninth of his career. Earnhardt Jr. has never won at Bristol, but has two second place finishes.(ThatsRacin.com) #52-Brad Teague, one of four drivers attempting to run all three national series races at Bristol failed to make the race as did: #53-Joe Buford; #0-Mike Potter; #06-Cam Strader; #51-Morgan Shepherd; #68-Rick Markle; #96-Caleb Holman; #16-John Hayden.
For starting lineups/qualifying results see:
ThatsRacin.com
BGNRacing.com
NASCAR.com.(8-26-2004)
