Rally Time for Jarrett

Dale Jarrett and Ricky Rudd share the front row and the best chance for victory in today’s NASCAR Global Crossing at Watkins Glen, N.Y. Lurking six rows behind them is the man who has won this race four times in five years.

Starting 13th will be Winston Cup series leader Jeff Gordon, the master of NASCAR road courses. He has a 160-point lead over Jarrett and is 179 ahead of Rudd.

“Yeah, 160 points may seem insurmountable,” Jarrett said. “But what you have to realize is that he got the lead in just two weeks and it can go away just that quick.”

Jarrett’s strategy is simple: Win the race and let the points take care of themselves. But he knows he has no room for failure if he plans to rally for his second championship.

“We can’t give up anything anywhere,” Jarrett said. “The other side of it is if Jeff should falter there are so many cars on the lead lap we can make up some points.”

Jarrett’s first order of business is beating Rudd to the first of 11 turns on the 2.45-mile track. After that, it’s every man for himself. But Jarrett doesn’t think he and two-time Watkins Glen winner Rudd will have a problem sorting things out.

“We’re going to be smart about it,” he said. “Whoever gets there first will have it.”

Jarrett certainly hopes he’s the one, because passing is so difficult that a well-prepared car driven capably from the pole can control the race. He says being up front for as many laps as possible is the key.

A driver in the lead is able to choose his own racing line and decide when he’ll pit.

“You don’t have to do anything crazy to pick up track position,” Jarrett said.

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The Penske cars weren’t quite as fast as last year at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio, but they were fast enough.

For the second year in a row, Gil de Ferran will be on the pole and Helio Castroneves will be beside him at the start of the CART Miller Lite 200.

De Ferran had the fastest lap in qualifying, covering the 13-turn, 2 1/4-mile course in 124.214 mph on the day’s final lap in his Reynard Honda.

That was slightly slower than the pole-sitting speed of 124.394 he posted in 2000, tying a record set by Dario Franchitti the year before. Castroneves won last year’s race, with de Ferran second.

Castroneves, also in a Reynard Honda, had his fastest time of 123.394 on his next-to-last qualifying lap. Patrick Carpentier in the Team Player’s Reynard Ford was third at 123.341.

The Penske teammates traded the pole position back and forth in the final five minutes, with Castroneves losing a chance to possibly take the pole on his final lap because he ran into traffic.

Among the slower cars he encountered on that lap was that of Paul Tracy. The two nearly bumped and both drivers appeared to gesture at each other while still in their cars.

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Scott Sharp turned in a lap of 214.598 mph to take the pole for the Indy Racing League Northern Light Series Belterra Casino Indy 300 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, Ky.

It was the third pole of the season for Sharp, who sits third in the series points standings behind leader Sam Hornish Jr. and Buddy Lazier.

“We really surprised ourselves with our speed,” Sharp said after his two-lap qualifying run. “When I looked down and saw 214, I first thought there was something wrong with my dash.

“Everything just came together for us. We stuck a new engine in last night and it ran really well this morning.”

Delphi teammate Mark Dismore joined Sharp on the front row with a lap of 213.646 mph. Rounding out the top five were Eddie Cheever Jr. (213.200), Robbie Buehl (212.002) and Greg Ray (211.441).

Hornish qualified eighth at 210.500 mph while Lazier finished in 11th position after a lap of 210.248 mph.