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By Marty Smith, Turner Sports Interactive
October 18, 2002
6:14 PM EDT (2214 GMT)
MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- Ryan Newman added yet another bullet to a sparking rookie resume Friday at Martinsville Speedway, nipping Jeff Gordon by some three-hundredths of a second to earn the Bud Pole for Sunday's Old Dominion 500.
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| Ryan Newman garnered his fourth Bud Pole Award of 2002 on Friday at Martinsville. Credit: Autostock |
He is the first rookie to earn a Martinsville pole since Tony Stewart in 1999, despite turning the slowest pole-winning lap since Ernie Irvan's 20.453-second lap in Sept. 1993.
"It's tough bumping Jeff Gordon off the pole," said Newman, who trails Stewart by 165 points entering the weekend. "That's definitely tough, but I'm happy to do so. The guys did an awesome job giving me what it takes to get around this place. It's definitely a different track for us."
No matter the venue, the results don't change much. Newman's 14 top-fives tie Stewart for the series lead. His 20 top-10s are a series high. Friday marked his fifth career Bud Pole, and fourth of the year. Only Bill Elliott, who qualified third Friday, and rookie rival Jimmie Johnson have as many.
"We're just happy to have the qualifying effort we had today," said Newman, who also posted the fastest speed during Friday's only practice. "It's so important to start up front at every racetrack. We're looking forward to Sunday. Hopefully, we can be as fast that day, too."
Gordon, the 10th of 48 drivers to make a qualifying attempt Friday, laid down a 20.420-second lap at 92.733 mph. That went untouched until Newman, the 45th driver to qualify, upended him at 20.397 seconds. Gordon knew immediately that Newman had a rocket ship.
 | OLD DOMINION 500 |  | Ryan Newman takes the Bud Pole at Martinsville.
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"I watched Ryan, and I knew we were in trouble when I saw his first lap," Gordon said.
Gordon, who has three poles this year, starts on the front row for the fifth time in 2002. In 20 career tries at Martinsville, Gordon has qualified outside the top 10 just six times.
He has three career victories at Martinsville, but none since 1999.
"This place is so good to me. We've always had a good setup here," Gordon said. This is one of my favorite tracks. We've run well here. The first time we were here this year we were really strong and got caught up in something off (Turn) 4, and we still came home 23rd, with no power steering.
"I'm hoping this time we can keep our car up front and make a real challenge for the win."
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| Jeff Gordon will start from the outside pole Sunday. Credit: Autostock |
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Elliott, who is still in search of his first career Martinsville win, starts third, followed by Ward Burton and Rusty Wallace in the top five.
"The last several times here I've looked forward to coming back," Elliott said. "Martinsville had kind of eluded me throughout the years. If you can get hooked up here Sunday afternoon, you can have a lot of fun. It would mean a lot to win here Sunday."
Hendrick Motorsports teammates Joe Nemechek and Johnson are sixth and seventh, respectively, while surprising Hermie Sadler ranks eighth. Mike Skinner qualified ninth, and Dale Earnhardt, Jr. was 10th.
Sadler's effort marks a career-high. He started 13th in this race in 2001. Sadler has made nine of 13 career starts this season. This will mark his third start at Martinsville.
Sadler's younger brother, Elliott, will roll off 39th on Sunday, and was among seven drivers who required provisional starting positions. Michael Waltrip, Kyle Petty, John Andretti, Kenny Wallace, Steve Grissom and Hideo Fukuyama were the others.
Sunday will mark Fukuyama's second career start. He started 43rd and finished 39th at Dover in September. Stewart, the series points leader, starts 31st.
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