Sunday, February 25, 2001
Gordon dedicates pole to Earnhardt
The Associated Press
ROCKINGHAM, N.C. — Jeff Gordon walked into the media center at North Carolina Speedway after winning the pole Saturday for the Dura Lube 400, wearing a baseball cap with a big No.3 on the front.
“I put this hat on and let everybody know we're thinking of Dale (Earnhardt),” Gordon said. “I want to dedicate this pole to him. It's a great opportunity to let everybody know how much I respected him and how much we're going to miss him.”
Earnhardt was killed in a last-lap crash last Sunday in the Daytona 500.
Gordon turned a lap of 156.455 mph on the way to the 34th pole of his career and second on Rockingham's 1.017-mile oval. He barely nipped Steve Park, whose lap was 156.395 — just 0.009 seconds slower. Both drive Chevrolets.
“I think it's important to get your momentum started early, especially with the bad run we had last weekend,” said Gordon, who finished 30th at Daytona after becoming entangled in a 19-car crash late in the race. “It's nice to be able to bounce back.”
Bobby Labonte, the defending series champion, was third in a Pontiac at 156.068, followed by Ricky Rudd and Jeff Burton in Fords at 155.902 and 155.571, respectively.
The top-qualifying entry for Dodge as Ward Burton in 11th.
Daytona winner Michael Waltrip, Park's teammate at Dale Earnhardt Inc., along with Dale Earnhardt Jr., caromed off the wall during the morning practice and bounced off again during his qualifying run. He still managed to put his Chevy into the field in seventh.
“I know how good it felt to win that race last week, but you don't know how good that just felt,” said Waltrip, new to the DEI team with no owner points from last year to fall back on for a provisional start. “I lost sight of the goal this morning and wrecked. I prayed and prayed it would work out, because making this race was just huge for me.”
Dale Jr. qualified 25th and, after meeting with the media Friday for the first time since his father's death, had nothing more to say on that subject, for now.
“We had a good car, a top-10 car,” said the Daytona runner-up. “But (in qualifying) the car was not the way it was in practice. We'll be fine in the race.”
BUSCH RACE: Todd Bodine gambled on a late stop and made it pay off with a victory Saturday in the ALLTEL 200 Busch Series race at North Carolina Speedway.
Bodine, a regular in NASCAR's Winston Cup series, was leading when rookie Scott Wimmer's car hit the wall on lap 183 of the 197-lap race. Bodine pitted for four tires, while several other drivers, including defending series champion Jeff Green, stayed on the track.
The leader managed to avoid a five-car pileup on lap 193 and, with a two-lap sprint to the end following that final caution, beat Kevin Harvick — last year's top Busch rookie and the driver replacing e Earnhardt in his Winston Cup ride — by 0.407 seconds — about seven car-lengths.
“At a place like Rockingham, you know if you don't pit and anybody behind you pits, you're in trouble,” Bodine said. “I told (crew chief) Gary (Cogswell) "If we want to win, I've got to pit.' That's just what happened.”
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Gordon dedicates pole to Earnhardt
