Although he is yet to achieve the status of Jeff Gordon, Bobby Labonte proved again Friday that he knows the fastest way around one of NASCAR's most difficult tracks.
For the second time in a row, Labonte beat Gordon in qualifying at Dover Downs International Speedway, turning a fast mile in his Pontiac at 152.788 mph. Gordon, looking to make history by winning his fourth straight race at the Monster Mile, will start his Chevrolet second Sunday in the Miller 500 after a lap of 151.841."This race car really stuck," said Labonte, one of the few drivers to overcome a slick track. "But we had to do a little chasing today because it wasn't quite right when we got here."
So slick was the high-banked concrete surface that neither driver came close to Labonte's Dover qualifying standard of 155.086, set last September for the MBNA 500. Nor did they approach Gordon's 154.785 event qualifying record of a year ago.
"I'm glad to get through with that lap," said Gordon, who hopes to win for the sixth time in 12 races this year. "I was more nervous today about qualifying than I've been in a long time."
Labonte also said the eighth pole of his career was no easy run.
"We had enough heat in the tires where it stuck good for a lap," he said. "Before we hadn't gotten it as comfortable as we wanted it to be."
Labonte won his third pole in as many visits to Dover. In addition to his top start in the MBNA 500, Labonte qualified first for the Busch race last June.
Miller 200
WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Michael Andretti figures he's got the best chance of any driver to halt Paul Tracy's hot streak in the Miller 200 on Sunday.
Despite mixed results in Friday's practice - he ran ninth-best in the field of 27 drivers - Andretti considers Milwaukee's flat one-mile oval his home.
And why not? He's won this race five times, including last year, when he passed Al Unser Jr. on a late restart.
Andretti has three podium finishes in the first six stops on the CART circuit this year, including a victory at Miami on March 2.
But he's not as hot as Tracy, the PPG Cup points leader who won at Milwaukee in 1995 and has won three straight races.
Milwaukee Indy Lights
WEST ALLIS, Wis. - Clint Mears, son of four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Rick Mears, lapped the Milwaukee Mile at 154.549 mph Friday to pace practice for the sixth race of PPG-Firestone Indy Lights Championship.
Mears, driving a Lola T97-20, was 1.5 mph faster than his nearest competitor and 14 mph faster than the official qualifying record.
GM Goodwrench 200
DOVER, Del. - Dick Trickle, back at the site of his only Winston Cup pole, spoiled an otherwise perfect day for Labonte by qualifying first on Friday for the GM Goodwrench 200.
Trickle took the inside of the front row for the NASCAR Busch Grand National race with a lap of 148.926 mph in a Chevrolet. Labonte, his Winston Cup colleague, will start second Saturday in a Pontiac off a lap of 148.908 at Dover Downs International Speedway.