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Friday, Sept. 29
With a comfortable 249-point lead in the championship and seven races remaining, it appears Bobby Labonte is well on his way to his first-ever Winston Cup title.
And Labonte knows that with that comfortable lead with seven rounds remaining in this heavyweight title fight, he can afford to absorb some punches. But he can't afford to be knocked out.
Labonte is at a race track that he hasn't had the best of records at -- Martinsville Speedway. He's never won; never had a top-five finish; in fact, he's only had three top-10s. His average finish is worst that 16th. And he knows the guy who is chasing him, Dale Earnhardt, is a six-time winner at NASCAR's smallest, shortest and toughest race track.
Labonte remembers what happened here at Martinsville in the spring -- there were a NASCAR record-tying 17 caution flags. He has to be very, very careful. And how does he do that? By trying to start out front (he'll start 14th) and stay out front.
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MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Stewart bettered his 5-month-old qualifying record at a track where he claims to struggle, and won the pole Friday at Martinsville Speedway.
Stewart circled the tight, .526-mile oval at 95.371 mph in his Pontiac. That eclipsed his 95.275 of April, and edged Rusty Wallace and Jeff Burton for the top spot in Sunday's NAPA Auto Care 500.
Wallace, an eight-time pole winner this year, went out right after Stewart in his Ford and nearly made it nine with a lap at 95.338 mph. Burton, whose Ford went out 12th, turned his best lap at 95.319 mph.
Stewart, who gained a share of the series lead with Wallace with his fourth victory of the season last weekend in Dover, Del., said his success in qualifying on the Winston Cup series' shortest track is a mystery.
"This is probably the toughest track that I have tried to conquer," he said. "I haven't figured out how to be good here and be good here all day. I get very impatient and that causes me a lot of problems."
Stewart's best finish at Martinsville was a sixth, also in April, but he said he won't have an idea how he'll do until practice Saturday. Even then, the rough-and-tumble style of racing here can scuttle everything.
"Even if you have the fastest car on Sunday, this place can still be rough," he said. "We're just going to take it one step at a time."
Wallace, tied for second among active drivers with six victories at Martinsville and a three-time polesitter, was surprised by the speeds.
"We got close, but really, I didn't think I could run that fast," he said. "When Jeff laid that lap down, I said, 'Man, nobody's going to be able to beat that one.'"
But Burton figured Stewart -- the 42nd of 48 drivers to take laps -- was the man to beat after he consistently ranked at or near the top of the speed charts in practice.
Burton's bother, Ward, will start from the fourth spot, also in a Pontiac, followed by defending race champion Jeff Gordon, Kenny Wallace, Bobby Hamilton and Mike Skinner, all in Chevrolets.
Brett Bodine's Ford and Steve Park's Chevrolet complete the top 10.
Gordon, whose victory a year ago was his first after crew chief Ray Evernham's resignation, qualified fifth as the first car on the track. He will try to become the first successful defending champion here since Darrell Waltrip's 11th and most recent Martinsville victory in 1989.
"I hated that we had to go first because we've got such an awesome race car," said Gordon, seeking his fourth victory here overall.
Waltrip, retiring after this season to become a broadcaster, will line up 18th in the last of his of 52 career starts at Martinsville.
"I was going to kill that second lap. I had her wound up, and I was going to set me a new track record," the effervescent Waltrip said after his run. "I killed it all right. I missed the whole first turn."
Mark Martin, who won here in April from the 21st starting spot,
had another tough day of time trials. He was 23rd-fastest at 94.557
mph.
"We've been a dog all day," Martin said. | |
ALSO SEE
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Gordon loses appeal on Monte Carlo 400 penalty
Weber: All that's left is for Labonte to 'finish' what he started
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Tony Stewart takes his second pole of the season.
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Tony Stewart was surprised to win a pole at Martinsville.
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 Tony Stewart had a good car in practice.
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Rusty Wallace is glad to be on the front row.
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Jeff Burton has other things on his mind.
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Jeff Gordon turned in a good lap despite brushing the wall.
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