Schrader, Allmendinger overcome quals pressure

MARTINSVILLE, Va. -- It was an absolutely balmy day at Martinsville Speedway on Friday, but after Bud Pole Qualifying for Sunday's Goody's Cool Orange 500, all Wood Brothers/JTG Racing co-owner Len Wood could talk about was getting out of the cold.

"That was big," Wood said of driver Ken Schrader's fourth-place qualifying run in the Wood Brothers/JTG No. 21 Ford. "At least we can bring the truck in and get us a garage stall."

Out with the boss

For the second time this season, David Reutimann qualified for the race while his boss, team owner Michael Waltrip, missed.

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He was laughing when he said it, but the alternate prospect, which began on a raw, rainy Thursday when Car of Tomorrow inspection was held, was probably a trip home for the Woods, who arrived at their hometown Martinsville Speedway this week as a non-guaranteed starter for maybe the first time, ever.

Most of the teams outside the top 35 in the Nextel Cup owner standings are crippled at Martinsville by having their transporters parked outside the .526-mile short track and their cars parked under canopies inside Turns 1 and 2.

After qualifying for the second Car of Tomorrow race in NASCAR history, Team Red Bull's No. 83 team and Morgan-McClure Motorsports' No. 4 had to vacate the garage and the Woods and former Cup champion Dale Jarrett moved in.

For the second consecutive week, Schrader rose to the occasion and qualified well, after he was 15th last weekend on the Bristol short track. He and Wood said a test last Tuesday at the Caraway Speedway in Asheboro, N.C., was a key.

"But this is a different car than at Bristol and a different track," Schrader said with a shrug. "I don't see the car being any [darned] different. It's still got two pedals you can use to control it, and a steering wheel."

While Schrader's performance was a high-water mark this season for a go or go-home team, Team Red Bull rookie A.J. Allmendinger was equally as enthused to qualify 40th -- a gain of nine spots from last place in practice that earned him his second consecutive start after four DNQs in a row.

"All the credit goes to the Team Red Bull guys, because plain and simple, we sucked during practice -- we were as bad as we could be," Allmendinger said. "I was pretty much as confused as you could be and we pretty much sucked together.

"They made 14 changes for qualifying and heck, I just tried to do a lap that I thought might be good enough to get in and it worked."

NASCAR veteran Tim Fedewa said the explanation of how Allmendinger, who won five races in less than a full Champ Car World Series season in 2006, could have qualified for two short track races in a row, of all things, was simple.

"I think it's because he can manhandle the car and feel what the car itself is doing -- kind of like he'd do on a road course, like he's used to," said Fedewa, who is Allmendinger's spotter. "I think what you're seeing come out on these short tracks is his pure driving ability, because he's got a lot of it."

The brutal Nextel Cup season of 2007 continued for a number of teams trying to climb out of the chasm stretching below the top 35 in owner points, who are weekly guaranteed starters.

Front Row Motorsports' streak of futility with driver Kevin Lepage reached six races. Michael Waltrip failed to qualify for the fifth consecutive week. Ward Burton and Kenny Wallace fell short for the fourth time in six races. And Brian Vickers and Paul Menard failed for the third time this year.

On the positive side, Mike Bliss qualified his No. 49 BAM Racing Dodge for the third consecutive week, in 39th at Martinsville, after three DNQs to start the year. Jeremy Mayfield will make his second consecutive start in the No. 36 Toyota, in 13th this week, after four consecutive DNQs.

Schrader's team has a good chance of getting back into the top 35 after Sunday's race, as does Dave Blaney, who qualified 22nd in his No. 22 Toyota in his first race as a non-guaranteed car this season.

Allmendinger has a ways to go to get to 35th, as his owner, Dietrich Mateschitz, is 258 points out of that spot coming into Martinsville. So as high as he'll be Sunday morning, his overall stress is nowhere near over.

"I hate this," Allmendinger said of having to get in on his qualifying speed, and then wait until the last non-guaranteed car runs before he knows his fate. "One of these days, we're going to put down a lap that will put us second or third with no cars left and we'll have no worries and we'll be fine.

"This place is tough. You see it on TV and people tell you how tough it is, but it is a paperclip where you brake and you turn. It's really tough to get around and I'm sure the race on Sunday will get pretty hairy."

At least he's racing.