Labonte Earns Pole With Record Lap

Bobby Labonte got his fourth pole of the season with a record-setting lap of 159.320 mph Friday, far faster than both the former Dover Downs track record and the remainder of the field for the MBNA Platinum 400 in Dover, Del.

Labonte, who leads the Winston Cup circuit in poles, again demonstrated his liking for The Monster Mile, where he won his third career pole. He also has two NASCAR Busch Grand National poles on the high-banked oval.

Labonte said the run of 22.596 seconds surprised him, considering a slow start to the day.

“We weren’t very good when we first unloaded,” said Labonte, third in the driver standings although still searching for his first victory this year. “But we got better and better.”

Labonte said the smoothing of the concrete surface and changes to the aerodynamics of the cars made for the fast speeds. All but 14 of 46 cars that made qualifying runs eclipsed the 155.966 standard Mark Martin set last September before winning the MBNA Gold 400.

Second was series points leader Dale Jarrett, who drove a Ford around the track at 158.576. Martin was third in a Ford at 158.325.

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Getting around difficult Dover Downs International Speedway again provided no great challenge for Dick Trickle, who set a Busch Grand National record of 155.213 mph in his Chevrolet in qualifying for the MBNA Platinum 200.

It was the third Busch pole at The Monster Mile for Trickle, a Winston Cup regular who also races frequently on NASCAR’s second-tier circuit.

Trickle, 57, whose run of 23.194 seconds bumped Kevin Grubb from the pole for the race today, also hopes to compete Sunday in the MBNA 400.

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Greg Biffle, who’ll start from the pole position in today’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Coca-Cola Family 200, wasn’t sure he’d even complete his qualifying run at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.

“It was a hang-on-for-dear-life lap,” said Biffle, stepping out of his Ford F-150 after lapping the steeply banked, 0.533-mile oval. “I really thought we were going to wreck.”

Biffle, however, took the checkered flag with a speed of 120.831 mph. He missed Bristol’s year-old qualifying record by five-hundredths of a second but the effort was good enough for the 29-year-old Vancouver, Wash., driver’s second pole of the season.

Second in a field of 32 was Mike Wallace (120.634 mph) in a Ford.

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Doug Kalitta went a quarter-mile in 4.543 seconds to pace top fuel qualifying in the NHRA Fram Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Ill. John Force led in funny car, Kurt Johnson in pro stock, Angelle Seeling in pro stock motorcycle and Bob Panella in pro stock truck.

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Critically injured in a crash at Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, Steve Fried, the chief mechanic for rookie driver Robby McGehee, was upgraded to fair, officials said at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.