Jeff Gordon captured the Bud Pole today at Bristol Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Food City 500 with a speed of 125.453 (15.295 sec) for his second top-spot of the season (he’s the first repeater, btw) and the 58th of his NextelL Cup career…..and that’s pretty significant. He’s now tied with the legendary Bobby Allison for 5th on the all-time pole list. Kasey Kahne will join Gordon in the Uecker seats. Jamie McMurray (5th) has his best starting spot since he grabbed the outside pole at Infineon last June. Dave Blaney (7th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 6th at Martinsville last October. This is also Toyota’s best starting spot thus far….their previous best was when Blaney started 11th at Las Vegas. Jeff Green (9th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 8th at Martinsville last October. Welcome Regan Smith (12th). This is his first Cup start ever….no pressure, huh? Not like this car has been any good or anything. Ward Burton (14th) has his best starting spot since he lined up 4th at Martinsville in October of 2004 (only seven starts). Ken Schrader (15th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 10th at Martinsville last October. Tony Raines (17th) has his best starting spot since he qualified 11th at Martinsville last October. Jeremy Mayfield (23rd) makes his first Cup race of the season and has his best starting spot since he timed in 15th at The Brickyard last August (only two races). Dale Jarrett (30th) makes the field this week for the first-time this season on speed. He still has two more Champion Provisionals avaiable for the rest of the year. Robby Gordon (34th) has his best starting spot since he timed in 9th at Texas last November. Welcome A. J. Allmendinger (43rd)…..we’ve been waiting for you. This is his first Nextel Cup start….you can bet he’ll be wide-eyed on Sunday! STREAKIN….Elliott Sadler has 3 Top-5 starts in a row. The Trouble Train had a few new faces amongst it’s six cars today. Kevin Lepage, David Reutimann, Michael Waltrip, Joe Nemechek, Johnny Sauter, and Paul Menard are the dnq’s this weekend, and it’s crucial for a couple teams. Nemechek should be okay to still make the Top-35 in Owner Points (they were 19th coming into this week and will get 22 points as a dnq), but Johnny Sauter’s status could be iffy. They came out of Atlanta in 28th in Owner Points and get 19 markers this week, so it’s gonna be close.(Stock Car Fans)(3-23-2007)
