April 12, 2002
- Jeff Gordon wins pole at Martinsville for the Virginia 500. #24-Jeff Gordon wins the pole at Martinsville with a speed of 94.181mph. The top five starters are:
#24-Gordon 94.181
#55-Hamilton 94.092
#8-Earnhardt Jr 94.064
#5-Labonte 93.985
#2-Wallace 93.933
Provisional Land:
37) #21-Sadler (16th in owners points) 92.701
38) #30-Green (29th) 92.506
39) #10-Benson (30th) 92.919
40) #36-Schrader (33rd) 92.910
41) #26-Nemechek/Kimmel (36th) 92.263
42) #90-Mast (41st) 92.606
43) #71-Hillenburg (43rd) 85.186
missing the race – #59-Renfrow (52nd in owners points) 92.560
#8-Earnhardt Jr spun on his 2nd lap after hitting the curb but didn’t hit anything and there was no damage to the car.
For results/lineup, see ThatsRacin.com, NASCAR.com.(4-12-2002) - #26 at Martinsville? UPDATE 4 yep with Kimmel – Nemechek to qualify the car: FSN’s Totally NASCAR reports that a decision is near on if the #26 Haas Carter Motorsports team will go to Martinsville or not. If they go, Frank Kimmel will be the driver.(4-9-2002)
UPDATE: #26 Team owner Travis Carter hopes that Kimmel’s sponsors will pay to put him in the #26 for at least five more races this year, buying Carter time to find a permanent sponsor. Carter says Kimmel could be in the car this weekend at Martinsville Speedway. “Right now, that’s not firmed up,” he says. Meantime, drivers Todd Bodine [#66] and Joe Nemechek [#26] remain under contract to Carter. Both are racing in the BGN but are free to pursue other Winston Cup opportunities (so Nemechek would be free to move to the #44, see rumor below). Carter says he still talks with team co-owner Carl Haas every couple of days about sponsorship prospects, but Haas is not directly involved with the effort to field cars for Kimmel “just to make it a little simpler,” Carter says. Even if he can’t come up with a sponsor for the rest of the season, Carter thinks he might be able to wait and see if he can put something together for next season.(USA Today)(4-10-2002)
UPDATE 2: For the second consecutive week, 3-time ARCA RE/MAX Series champ Frank Kimmel will be competing in the Cup Series. Kimmel, who drove the #26 Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford for Travis Carter last weekend at Texas, will again drive the car this weekend at Martinsville. The difference this time is that Kimmel will also be competing in the PFG Lester ARCA 150 at Nashville Superspeedway on the same weekend. Since the ARCA race at Nashville is the same day as Cup qualifying at Martinsville, another driver will have to qualify the #26 Ford (hey DW used to drive for Carter). Kimmel’s plan is to qualify the ARCA car at Nashville on Thursday, then fly out right after qualifying so he can practice the Cup car at Martinsville Friday morning, then fly back to Nashville early afternoon in time for the ARCA race which starts at 4:00pm. Then fly out right after the ARCA race for practice and happy hour Saturday at Martinsville. If all goes well at Martinsville, Kimmel plans to run for Travis Carter at Talladega the following weekend. Fortunately for Kimmel and crew, the ARCA RE/MAX Series does not have a race scheduled the weekend that Kimmel will be in Talladega for the Winston Cup race. Kimmel’s busy schedule will continue however following the Winston Cup race at Talladega (4-21) as he’ll be returning to his home turf at Salem Speedway IN the following weekend for the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 on Sunday, April 28.(ARCA Racing Site)(4-10-2002)
UPDATE 3: Travis Carter Enterprises announced that Frank Kimmel, along with sponsors Pork. The Other White Meat(R) and Advance Auto Parts, is officially joining the team for several 2002 Winston Cup races. Kimmel, three-time ARCA Re/Max champion, drove for team owner Travis Carter in 1998 as substitute for the injured Jimmy Spencer and most recently in the Samsung/RadioShack 500 at Texas Motor Speedway on April 7, 2002. Several members of Kimmel’s ARCA team, including crew chief Bill Kimmel, will assist Donnie Wingo and the Travis Carter team in the race. The National Pork Board and Advance Auto Parts participated in last weekend’s race in Texas, and have signed on for several additional races, the first of which will be this weekend in the Virginia 500 at the Martinsville Speedway.(Business Wire)(4-11-2002)
UPDATE 4: Joe Nemechek will qualify the #26 Ford for Travis Carter Enterprises while the team’s scheduled driver, Frank Kimmel, must leave the track early Friday to compete in an ARCA race at Nashville Superspeedway. Kimmel will practice in the #26 Friday morning at Martinsville before returning to Tennessee for the ARCA race, which starts at 4:00pm/et. He would then return to Martinsville for Saturday’s Winston Cup practice, if the car makes the field (36th in owners points).(ThatsRacin.com), Kimmel won the pole for the ARCA race at Nashville.(4-12-2002) - Long to help out: Team Will Carry “Jaret’s Angels” Logo in Charlotte To Help Raise Awareness of Juvenile Diabetes. Carl Long doesn’t want the space on his # 85 Dodge to go to waste, so while the Roxboro, NC native continues to pursue sponsorship opportunities for a full NASCAR Winston Cup Series ride, he will carry the “Jaret’s Angels” logo on his cars beginning in Charlotte for the BGN race, the Winston Open and the Coca-Cola 600. The logo, a family emblem designed by artist Jim Hunt in support of 3-year-old Charlotte resident Jaret Arneson, who was diagnosed with juvenile (Type 1) diabetes in December of 2000, will be accompanied by the logo and Web site address for the national office of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation — www.jdrf.org. At Charlotte, Long will try to qualify the #64 Dodge of owner Rick Glenn, with team owner Thee Dixon and Mansion Motorsports providing the #85 Dodge for entry in the Winston Open and the Coca-Cola 600. SR Racing of Lebanon, TN, supplies the team’s engines for all of Long’s cars.(Carl Long Racing Site)(4-12-2002)
- Jeff Countersues Brooke: NASCAR driver Jeff Gordon has countersued his wife for divorce, saying he should not have to equally split the couple’s estate because he risked his life to collect it. Gordon, a four-time Winston Cup champion, wants a larger share of the couple’s businesses, homes, cars and boats. They have been married seven years and have no children. Gordon’s wife, the former Jennifer Brooke Sealey, filed for the divorce March 15, saying the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” She is seeking alimony, exclusive use of the couple’s $9 million oceanfront home in Palm Beach County and periodic use of a Mercedes, Porsche, several boats and an airplane. Her attorney, Jeff Fisher, said Jeff Gordon is “arrogant and selfish” for claiming he should get more money because his job is dangerous.(ESPN/AP)(4-12-2002)
- Hmiel on the pole at Nashville: rookie #47-Shane Hmiel won the pole at Nashville Superspeedway with a speed of 161.439 for a new track BGN record. #57-Jason Keller will start 2nd with a speed of 161.103. #60-Greg Biffle had to use a provisional after spinning and hitting the wall. For results/lineup see ThatsRacin.com or MotorsportsOne or the BGN Racing site.(4-12-2002)
- Musgrave on pole at Martinsville: #1-Ted Musgrave won the pole with a speed of 92.863mph and teammate #2-Jason Leffler is on the outside pole with a speed of 92.746. Cup team owner Andy Petree will start 3rd, #17-Darrell Waltrip will start 18th, and Cup driver Kevin Harick will start 12th on the #6 Chevy. #81-Angie Wilson made the field using a provisional. See NASCAR.com for the Advance Auto Parts 250 Reace Lineup.(4-12-2002)
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