| | Associated Press
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Tony Stewart was the man to watch at Martinsville Speedway on pole qualifying day. Now that the front of the field is set, Jeff Burton thinks all eyes should be on Rusty Wallace.
"Everybody will be watching how fast Rusty can go and how long he can go that fast," Burton said of the six-time winner at Martinsville Speedway, the shortest and tightest track on the Winston Cup circuit.
|  | | Tony Stewart won the pole Friday, but knows keeping Rusty Wallace behind him on Sunday will be tough at Martinsville. |
Wallace was in the middle of the pack on speed in both practices Saturday, but past performances suggest he'll be much better Sunday.
The NAPA 500 is the last of six short-track events on the schedule, and so far Wallace has dominated the first five, winning twice and leading for 44 percent of the laps. He also had the dominant car on this track in the spring before a late pit stop cost him a chance to win.
Last month in Richmond, Wallace again appeared to have the best car, but a blown motor shortly after the midpoint relegated him to 34th.
Wallace will start second Sunday, with Burton third and his brother, Ward, fourth on the track 60 miles from their South Boston hometown.
Because of Wallace's poor finish at Richmond, Jeff Burton actually leads the series in short track points this year, and the Burtons know the potential pitfalls of the .526-mile layout as well as anyone.
"It's physically demanding," Jeff Burton said. "It's mechanically demanding on your car. People get mad at the end of this race."
John Andretti was among those steamed at the end of the spring race. Running third when the event went back to green with six laps left, he was spun from behind by Michael Waltrip and limped home in 14th place.
But Andretti also picked up one of his two career Winston Cup
victories on this track in 1999. He said Martinsville suits him
just fine.
"I don't think it should be a cookie-cutter series," he said.
"I think there should be a wide variety, and Martinsville is at
the extreme. A track like this is sort of the foundation and grass
roots of our sport."
With only seven races left in the season, Bobby Labonte's
249-point lead over Dale Earnhardt in the championship standings
has taken some of the drama out of the chase. The most a driver can
gain in one race is 185.
Jeff Burton is 286 points behind in fourth place. He said the
title is all but settled unless Labonte does something
uncharacteristic.
Through 27 races, Labonte has been worse than 15th only twice -- a 21st in Talladega, Ala., and a 26th in Richmond three weeks later. Otherwise, Labonte has three victories, 19 top-10 finishes and 15 top-fives.
"Bobby's here to prevent having something bad happen," Jeff
Burton said. "Because that's the only way he can lose the
championship."
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