April 10, 2005 | Race 6 of 36

Pos. Car Driver Make Sponsor Speed Time Behind
1 10 Scott Riggs Chevrolet Valvoline 96.671 19.588 Leader
2 12 Ryan Newman Dodge ALLTEL 96.657 19.591 -0.003
3 19 Jeremy Mayfield Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 96.583 19.606 -0.018
4 2 Rusty Wallace Dodge Miller Lite 96.558 19.611 -0.023
5 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet GM Goodwrench 96.376 19.648 -0.060
6 18 Bobby Labonte Chevrolet Interstate Batteries 96.259 19.672 -0.084
7 20 Tony Stewart Chevrolet The Home Depot 96.195 19.685 -0.097
8 16 Greg Biffle Ford Jackson Hewitt 96.127 19.699 -0.111
9 97 Kurt Busch Ford Crown Royal 96.063 19.712 -0.124
10 01 Joe Nemechek Chevrolet U.S. Army 96.015 19.722 -0.134
11 49 Ken Schrader Dodge Schwan's Home Service 95.917 19.742 -0.154
12 11 Jason Leffler Chevrolet FedEx Express 95.888 19.748 -0.160
13 21 Ricky Rudd Ford Motorcraft Genuine Parts 95.864 19.753 -0.165
14 43 Jeff Green Dodge Cheerios/Betty Crocker 95.748 19.777 -0.189
15 0 Mike Bliss Chevrolet NetZero Best Buy 95.743 19.778 -0.190
16 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet DuPont 95.728 19.781 -0.193
17 77 Travis Kvapil* Dodge Kodak/Jasper Engines 95.699 19.787 -0.199
18 17 Matt Kenseth Ford DeWalt Power Tools 95.574 19.813 -0.225
19 45 Kyle Petty Dodge Georgia-Pacific/Brawny 95.554 19.817 -0.229
20 40 Sterling Marlin Dodge Coors Light 95.458 19.837 -0.249
21 5 Kyle Busch* Chevrolet Kellogg's 95.280 19.874 -0.286
22 6 Mark Martin Ford Viagra 95.271 19.876 -0.288
23 4 Mike Wallace Chevrolet Lucas Oil Products 95.208 19.889 -0.301
24 41 Casey Mears Dodge Target 95.194 19.892 -0.304
25 38 Elliott Sadler Ford M&M's 95.170 19.897 -0.309
26 8 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet Budweiser 95.127 19.906 -0.318
27 25 Brian Vickers Chevrolet GMAC/ditech.com 95.089 19.914 -0.326
28 32 Bobby Hamilton Jr. Chevrolet Tide 95.046 19.923 -0.335
29 42 Jamie McMurray Dodge Texaco/Havoline 95.008 19.931 -0.343
30 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet Cingular Wireless 94.955 19.942 -0.354
31 15 Michael Waltrip Chevrolet NAPA Auto Parts 94.917 19.950 -0.362
32 88 Dale Jarrett Ford UPS 94.865 19.961 -0.373
33 22 Scott Wimmer Dodge Caterpillar 94.652 20.006 -0.418
34 175 Mike Garvey Dodge Jani-King/Rinaldi Air Conditioning 94.614 20.014 -0.426
35 9 Kasey Kahne Dodge Dodge Dealers/UAW 94.562 20.025 -0.437
36 99 Carl Edwards Ford Scotts 94.519 20.034 -0.446
37 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet Lowe's 94.491 20.040 -0.452
38 66 Hermie Sadler Ford Peak Fitness 94.336 20.073 -0.485
39 34 Randy LaJoie Chevrolet Mach One Inc. 94.129 20.117 -0.529
40 09 Johnny Sauter Dodge Miccosukee Gaming & Resorts 93.929 20.160 -0.572
41 37 Kevin Lepage Dodge Carter's Royal Dispos-all 93.530 20.246 -0.658
42 07 Dave Blaney Chevrolet SKF/Jack Daniel's 93.525 20.247 -0.659
43 7 Robby Gordon Chevrolet Harrah's 93.354 20.284 -0.696

Did not Qualify
44 192 Stanton Barrett* Chevrolet Front Row Motorsports 92.956 20.371 -0.783
45 161 Jeff Fuller Dodge TBA 92.833 20.398 -0.810
46 27 Kirk Shelmerdine Ford Kirk Shelmerdine Racing 92.461 20.480 -0.892
47 200 Carl Long Chevrolet Buyer's Choice Auto Warranties 91.931 20.598 -1.010


* Denotes Rookie

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MARTINSVILLE, Va. (AP) --Scott Riggs watched 30 cars run their laps at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, got a talking to from his father and then won the first pole of his career in NASCAR's premier series.

Riggs toured the shortest, slowest track in Nextel Cup racing at 96.671 mph, relegating Martinsville master Ryan Newman to the outside of the front row. Newman, the track record-holder, qualified at 96.657.
"All my dad kept preaching to me before qualifying was just be smooth, be smooth, don't slip the car," Riggs said. "Don't be too aggressive, be smooth with it and you'll be good. You know, we ended up sitting on the pole with probably the ugliest lap I've ever had out there."

At each end on the first lap, Riggs said, he went too hard into the corners, had to collect the car and sailed off into the straightaways.

"I said, 'There's one lap gone,"' he said.

Instead, that was the lap that won him the pole in his 41st start in the Nextel Cup Series, making him only the 12th driver to earn the top starting spot in NASCAR's top three circuits. He has won five poles in the Craftsman Truck Series and two in the Busch Series.

Newman, who has 29 poles in 122 starts and started in the top 10 in all six previous visits to Martinsville, had the fastest car in practice, but cloud cover and a 30-minute delay for drizzle slowed the track down.

"You can't get the pole every time," he said. "We got beat by three-thousandths of a second, but I've won 'em that close before, too."

Riggs' Chevrolet is the only non-Dodge in the first two rows. The second row has Jeremy Mayfield (96.583) and defending race champion Rusty Wallace (96.558), who leads active drivers with seven victories here.

It will be Wallace's 33rd top-10 start in 43 races at the track.

The third row has the Chevys of Kevin Harvick and Bobby Labonte, with Labonte's teammate Tony Stewart in the fourth row inside the Ford of Greg Biffle. Kurt Busch's Ford and Joe Nemechek's Chevy are in the fifth row.

Other notables on the starting grid are Jimmie Johnson, who won here last fall and will start 37th, and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Jeff Gordon, a five-time winner at Martinsville, who will go off 16th.

"In the fall race last year, we didn't run really well in qualifying but it was so much better in the race," Johnson said. "But we usually come from the back here, so we'll just have to do that again."

Virginia native Ricky Rudd, who arrived here 37th in points and needing to make the field on his own merit under NASCAR's new provisional system, turned a lap at 95.864 mph and will start 13th on Sunday.

"I felt the pressure today," Rudd, a three-time Martinsville winner, said. "I tried not to let it bother me, but it was still there. It was probably a little bit faster race car than I was able to show. I didn't want to make some stupid mistake and spin out, which is easy to do here."

 

What the hell is wrong with Dale Jr. I think he cares more about TV commercials and less about racing.

 

Yeah, he is pretty far back. He doesn't done good at all this season.