Earnhardt Jr. leads Chevy charge at MIS

BROOKLYN, Mich. -- Chevrolets from Dale Earnhardt, Inc. and Richard Childress Racing -- led by Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- swept the top five starting positions Friday at Michigan International Speedway in Bud Pole Qualifying for Sunday's Pepsi 400.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. scored his first Bud Pole Award of 2002 on Friday. Credit: Autostock

Earnhardt Jr. went out 42nd of 44 cars that attempted and for the second time in qualifying, a DEI driver knocked his teammate off the pole.

Junior's lap in 37.961 seconds, an average speed of 189.668 mph, was off his 37.667/191.149 track-record effort of a year ago, but was good enough the fifth pole of his career and the first since Atlanta in November 2001, 24 races ago.

"It wasn't perfect -- I got loose in (Turns) 3 and 4 -- but it was a really good lap for the Bud team," Earnhardt said. "As a race team we've always qualified and ran well here in the Busch Series, with both Steve Park and myself -- I went here for one of my first races in the Busch Series and it seems like the tracks that I've done that at, I seem to do better at."

Two cars after Junior's run, final qualifier and RCR's lead driver Kevin Harvick squeezed into second with a lap in 38.067 seconds, 189.140 mph.

Six cars before Junior, Michael Waltrip, who ended up third, had first put a slight damper on teammate Steve Park's celebration, but the performance of the three DEI cars sitting in the top four more than made up for it.

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"I never got the pole when I didn't do it perfect," Waltrip said after turning a lap in 38.090 seconds, an average speed of 189.026 mph. Thanks to Earnhardt Jr. and Harvick, he wasn't.

Earnhardt Jr. had little sympathy.

"Well, he's had five he lost this year," Junior said. "But that team is going to have lots of poles to celebrate in the future, I can guarantee you."

Waltrip's effort nullified fourth-place Park's breathtaking exclamation mark on the one-year contract extension DEI announced for him Friday at MIS.

The fourth-place effort equaled Park's best start of the season, all the way back to Darlington in March -- with a lap in 38.208 seconds, an average speed of 188.442 mph. RCR's Robby Gordon qualified fifth.

"Man, I'm out of breath -- at least I know I can hold my breath for about 38 seconds," Park said. "I think I was concentrating so hard I forgot to breathe. It was just a little bit loose, but loose is fast here at Michigan.

"We didn't get a clean lap in practice and (crew chief) Paul Andrews and the Pennzoil crew made a great call to try to free me up a little for qualifying. We know how to win -- we've shown that in the past and we're going to show that in the future."

Waltrip downplayed the effect of a one-inch valance extension granted to Chevrolet for the race at Michigan only. Pontiac teams were allowed to extend their noses a half-inch, below the front bumper.

The best Pontiac was Bobby Labonte's, in 11th.

"Please don't think because we are one through five that it has anything to do with that extension," Waltrip said. "All these cars are taped off solid in the front and the fenders are pulled in -- we have all the front downforce we want for qualifying.

	Dale Earnhardt Jr. finished 22nd in the June race at Michigan. Credit: Autostock

"We'll have to wait and see what happens on Sunday. What you have to look at is whether the Chevys are able to hang with the Dodges and Fords 30 or 40 laps into a run."

Evernham Motorsports teammates Bill Elliott and Jeremy Mayfield in Dodges, Dale Jarrett and Ryan Newman in Fords and John Andretti in a Dodge qualified sixth-10th.

Defending race winner Sterling Marlin will line up 26th.

Rusty Wallace, Kyle Petty, Bobby Hamilton, Hut Stricklin, Casey Atwood, Mike Wallace and Tony Raines took provisional starting positions to line up 37th-43rd.

Detroit favorite Greg Biffle, the 2000 Craftsman Truck Series champion who lived near here when he drove owner Jack Roush's Ford trucks, was the only driver that failed to qualify.