Jeff Gordon Fastest All Day at Martinsville
Written by John Davison · October 17, 2003
Jeff Gordon Sweeps Martinsville Practice and Qualifying
Four-time winner backs up fastest time in practice with pole-setting run, hopes to sweep NASCAR’s shortest track in 2003.
Martinsville, VA - Oct. 17, 2003 -Jeff Gordon backed up his top time turned in practice when he put the No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet on pole for Sunday’s Subway 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race. “The laps were good and smooth and I just tried to get as clean a lap as possible on that last lap,” Gordon said of his 20.220 sec/93.650mph pole-winning effort. “Temperatures cooled down a bit for qualifying and last time we were here we picked up two tenths from where we practiced and I was hoping we could do that again, and that’s exactly what we picked up.”
Gordon won the spring race at Martinsville from the pole and hopes to be able to match Jimmie Johnson’s sweep of New Hampshire earlier this season.
Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr set the identical time of 20.428sec/92.696mph in practice. In qualifying, however, Earnhardt was only able to run third behind Gordon and Ward Burton. “I feel real good about our chances Sunday,” said Earnhardt, who started second in the spring race here. “Our strong point seems to be the long runs here. I’m real excited and happy that we are running good here. It was a real struggle when we first came on to this track.” Burton qualified .102sec slower than Gordon while Earnhardt was .036sec further back.
Burton is a lame-duck in Bill Davis’ No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge this weekend. He will be leaving the car to move over to the No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac for the remaining four races this season and all of next season. Kenny Wallace put the second Bill Davis car on the outside of the second row, giving the team both cars in the top five. “It’s been a hard week, but we’ll go out there and give it the best we can for the last race,” said Burton.
Jeff Green put the Petty Engineering No. 43 Cheerios Dodge in the top ten at tenth, a good run for that team. “I usually slow down in qualifying, but the guys gave me a great race car,” said Green. “It was hard to get hold of the track, but they believe in me, and I think we can go places with that. The track got a little more grip after practice, and that’s what you want. We got the job done with this Dodge today.”
Dodges occupied seven of the top ten starting slots, with Chevy bow-ties in the other three spots. Mike Skinner placed the lead Pontiac in eleventh and Ricky Rudd put the No. 21 Motorcraft Ford next, .239sec out of Gordon’t pole time.
Dale Jarrett starts in provisional land after he spun his UPS Ford before taking the green flag in qualifying, forcing the Robert Yates team to use a backup car. Teammate Elliott Sadler will join “DJ” at the back of the pack in the No. 36 M&Ms Ford after his car measured too much camber in the left-rear tire, which could not be corrected in the time allowed.
The inspection line nearly became the downfall of Ryan Newman and Michael Waltrip too as they both barely made it to the head of the line in their cars, Waltrip strapping in as the crew pushed the car up pit road.
Morgan Shepherd and Mark Green failed to qualify for Sunday’s race. Shepherd could not get his car up to minimum weight in time to qualify and Green’s A.J. Foyt Harrah’s team had no provisional starts available.
Jimmy Spencer set a negative example for the rest of the field when he spun in practice, hitting the outside wall with the Sirius Dodge. “I just made a mistake this morning. I was in a bunch of cars and made a mistake,” said Spencer. “It was one of them deals where I misjudged it and ended up in the wall. We got about five laps on the backup car. I had a lot of confidence in the car. We made a few changes to it to get it to grip better, and it worked. That’s just a sign the guys have confidence in me, and I’ve got confidence in them.”
Pos, Driver, Car, Time, Speed
1) Jeff Gordon, No. 24 DuPont Chevrolet, 20.220 sec, 93.650 mph
2) Ward Burton, No. 22 Caterpillar Dodge, 20.322 sec, 93.180 mph
3) Dale Earnhardt Jr., No. 8 Budweiser Chevrolet, 20.358 sec, 93.015 mph
4) Kenny Wallace, No. 23 Stacker 2 Dodge 20.367 sec, 92.974 mph
5) Kevin Harvick, No. 29 GM Goodwrench Service Chevrolet, 20.394 sec, 92.851 mph
6) Jimmy Spencer, No. 7 Sirius Satellite Radio Dodge 20.405 sec, 92.801 mph
7) Rusty Wallace, No. 2 Miller Lite Dodge 20.406 sec, 92.796 mph
8) Ryan Newman, No. 12 ALLTEL Dodge, 20.408 sec, 92.787 mph
9) Sterling Marlin, No. 40 Coors Light Dodge 20.429 sec, 92.692 mph
10) Jeff Green, No. 43 Cheerios Dodge, 20.430 sec, 92.687 mph
11) Mike Skinner, No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac 20.458 sec, 92.560 mph
12) Ricky Rudd, No. 21 Motorcraft Quality Parts Ford, 20.459 sec, 92.556 mph
13) Kurt Busch, No. 97 Rubbermaid Ford, 20.465 sec, 92.529 mph
14) Matt Kenseth, No. 17 DeWalt Power Tools Ford, 20.489 sec, 92.420 mph
15) Michael Waltrip, No. 15 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, 20.495 sec, 92.393 mph
16) Tony Stewart, No. 20 Home Depot Chevrolet, 20.498 sec, 92.380 mph
17) Jamie McMurray*, No. 42 Havoline Dodge, 20.500 sec, 92.371 mph
18) Ken Schrader, No. 49 SEM/BAM Racing Dodge, 20.508 sec, 92.335 mph
19) Greg Biffle*, No. 16 Grainger Ford 20.514 sec, 92.308 mph
20) Bobby Labonte, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Chevrolet, 20.515 sec, 92.303 mph
21) Jeff Burton, No. 99 CITGO Ford, 20.518 sec, 92.290 mph
22) Joe Nemechek, No. 25 UAW/Delphi Chevrolet, 20.519 sec, 92.285 mph
23) Mark Martin, No. 6 Viagra Ford, 20.533 sec, 92.222 mph
24) Kevin Lepage, No. 4 Kodak Pontiac 20.535 sec, 92.213 mph
25) Dave Blaney, No. 77 Jasper Engines & Transmissions Ford, 20.543 sec, 92.177 mph
26) Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet, 20.555 sec, 92.124 mph
27) Ricky Craven, No. 32 Tide Pontiac, 20.558 sec, 92.110 mph
28) Bill Elliott, No. 9 Dodge Dealers Dodge, 20.560 sec, 92.101 mph
29) Johnny Benson, No. 10 Valvoline Pontiac 20.573 sec, 92.043 mph
30) Jeremy Mayfield, No. 19 Dodge Dealers Dodge, 20.574 sec, 92.039 mph
31) Terry Labonte, No. 5 Kellogg’s/got milk? Chevrolet, 20.578 sec, 92.021 mph
32) Kyle Petty, No. 45 Georgia Pacific Dodge, 20.595 sec, 91.945 mph
33) Tony Raines*, No. 74 Staff America Chevrolet 20.607 sec, 91.891 mph
34) Jason Leffler, No. 0 NetZero HiSpeed Pontiac, 20.619 sec, 91.838 mph
35) Casey Mears*, No. 41 Target Dodge, 20.635 sec, 91.766 mph
36) Todd Bodine, No. 54 Subway/National Guard Ford, 20.646 sec, 91.717 mph
Provisional Starters:
37) Robby Gordon, No. 31 Cingular Wireless Chevrolet, 20.697 sec, 91.492 mph
38) Elliott Sadler, No. 38 M&M’s Ford, NT
39) Dale Jarrett, No. 88 UPS Ford, NT
40) John Andretti, No. 1 Pennzoil Chevrolet 20.679 sec, 91.571 mph
41) Steve Park, No. 30 America Online Chevrolet 20.660 sec, 91.655 mph
42) Derrike Cope, No. 37 PHM/Friendly Ice Cream Chevrolet, 20.734 sec, 91.328 mph
43) Hermie Sadler, No. 02 James Madison University Pontiac, 20.702 sec, 91.469 mph
Did not qualify:
44) Mark Green, No. 14 Harrah’s Dodge 20.694 sec, 91.505 mph
45) Morgan Shepherd, No. 89 Racing For Jesus/Red Line Oil Ford, NT
*: Rookie of the Year Competitor
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