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Thursday, May 24 Bodine, Spencer starting up front By Bill Frederickson ESPN.com CONCORD, N.C. -- Ryan Newman surprised nearly everyone in the garage area with his pole-winning run Thursday night at Lowe's Motor Speedway. The rookie will roll off first in Sunday's event. But no one seemed to notice that the two Haas/Carter Motorsports drivers found their way into the top-five when all was said and done. Todd Bodine qualified third, with a lap of 29.248 seconds, at an average speed of 184.628 mph. Jimmy Spencer, meanwhile, took the fifth starting spot with a lap of 29.309 seconds, at 184.244 mph. The reason no one made much noise about Bodine and Spencer was that it has become par for the course this year. Bodine has qualified well all season. Thursday's effort was the Chemung, N.Y., native's fifth top-10 starting spot of 2001. Spencer's run at Charlotte was his fourth top-10 starting slot. Now, the duo needs to work on improving their finishes. Bodine has more than just the usual incentives -- points and pride -- to push him this weekend. By virtue of his fifth-place finish earlier this year at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Bodine has a shot at an extra million dollars. He and a selected fan -- Dennis Trobaugh of Penn Laird, Pa. -- will get a big check if Bodine can find Victory Lane on Sunday. The other drivers involved in this weekend's No Bull 5 feature are Jeff Gordon, Dale Jarrett, Sterling Marlin and Johnny Benson. "When you've got a million bucks on the line, you've got to go for it," said Bodine, who left the track shortly after qualifying due to a sore back. "I just let it hang out and the car was right on the money that first lap. "That's all we had. I don't know how I could have made it any better." Now, with a solid starting spot secured, Bodine is setting his sights on Sunday. "That's exactly right," he said. "We needed a good qualifying run to start toward the front on Sunday. There is a million dollars up for grabs. We ran really well last week (at Charlotte). We learned a lot. "This is one of my best tracks, and, hopefully, we can get it all together and pull it off Sunday." Spencer, on the other hand, wasn't thoroughly satisfied with his run in time trials. "I just messed up qualifying there," he said. "I got pretty loose in (Turns) 1 and 2 and I thought somebody would run a 29-flat and we tried to do it. It's a good, solid run for us." But Spencer, a veteran, knows it's not where you start, but where you finish that really counts. And he's confident his Ford Taurus will be all he needs to stay up front Sunday. "I know this car is a good race car," said the Berwick, Pa., native. "It's the one we had at California. We've led a lot of laps and races with it and ran good with it at Darlington. "The thing is, when you're that close to the pole you want to sit on the pole, but I think the (guys in the crew) have done a great job."  Send this story to a friend | Most sent stories
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