| | Associated Press
Lineup
CONCORD, N.C. -- Move over Jeff Gordon, NASCAR's got a new
golden boy.
With the crowd screaming him on, rookie Dale Earnhardt Jr. won
the first pole of his career Wednesday night when he ran a
blistering 186.034 mph to take the top spot for Sunday night's
Coca-Cola 600.
Earnhardt was the 45th of 48 cars to try to qualify. He brought
the crowd to its feet and drew an enormous group of followers as he
made his way to his car, then patiently waited to run his two laps
around Lowe's Motor Speedway.
|  | | Dale Earnhardt Jr. can add the hardware for winning the Coca-Cola 600 to his trophy case. |
When it was finally his turn, he raced around the 1.5-mile,
high-banked tri-oval, knocking Jerry Nadeau off the pole and
breaking the 6-year-old track qualifying record of 185.759 mph. The pole comes four days after Little E won NASCAR's all-star race The Winston at Lowe's.
He then cruised back into the garage with a huge smile on his
face as he ignored a request his father, Dale Earnhardt, made over
the radio.
"He asked me if he could have this car," he said.
The answer was a resounding no. After all, Earnhardt Jr. was
driving the same car he used last month at Texas when he picked up
his first career victory.
It was only fitting for Earnhardt Jr. to bring the car here, his
home track and the same race he made his Winston Cup debut in last
season.
"Any chance you can have success and excel in front of a home
crowd, it's a little more enjoyment," Earnhardt Jr. said. "Coming
here, where I used to come watch my dad race, I never dreamed I'd
be running around this track, or doing it that fast."
But here he is, a rookie on the Winston Cup circuit and the most
dominating driver so far this year. He's NASCAR's only two-time
winner this season and also pulled off a surprising win in last
week's all-star race.
"We've had some bumps in the road and some weeks haven't been as fun as others," he said. "But we've been on a roll here at
Charlotte and now we're getting a taste of some success. It feels
pretty good."
Nadeau, who ran a fast lap speed of 185.122 mph, will start
second.
"That's all I had, I had nothing left in the car," Nadeau
said. "It just wasn't enough."
Bill Elliott was third, followed by Jeremy Mayfield and Mike
Skinner. Kevin Lepage, Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Tony Stewart
and Kenny Wallace round out the top 10.
Elliott, who has seen young drivers come and go in his 24 years,
said he sees a chemistry between Earnhardt Jr. and his crew that is
very similar to one he saw with Gordon and his former crew chief,
Ray Evernham, when Gordon won his three Winston Cup titles.
"He's been able to prove himself, whatever they've found
together," Elliott said. "Looking back at what Jeff and Ray
brought in, it's the same thing. They've been able to put together
that line of magic and my hat's off to those guys."
Gordon qualified 14th and Earnhardt was 15th.
Robby Gordon, trying to join Stewart and John Andretti as the
only drivers to compete in the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola
600 on the same day, failed to qualify Wednesday night, when the
top 25 starting spots were set for the 600.
He had the 40th-fastest speed and will need to try again in
Thursday's second round of time trials, when the remainder of the
field was to be set. Gordon will start fourth at Indianapolis,
where he plans to run 500 miles before flying immediately to
Charlotte for the early evening start of the 600.
Others who failed to qualify were Ward Burton, ranked second in
the points standings, his brother, Jeff, and Terry Labonte, who had
a terrible run of 175.604 and spilled oil on the track, causing a
delay in qualifying.
| |
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AUDIO/VIDEO
 Different car nets strong results for Dale Earnhardt Jr.
wav: 105 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Jerry Nadeau is excited about his new car.
wav: 104 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
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