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Leading again Improving Bodine takes pole at Pocono
Updated: Saturday July 28, 2001 6:14 PM
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) -- Todd Bodine, getting faster as the season progresses, claimed his second pole in three tries during qualifying Friday for the Pennsylvania 500. A surprised Bodine also took the top spot for the inaugural Tropicana 400 two weeks ago at Chicagoland Speedway, where he finished 14th. On Sunday, he'll try for his first career victory in his 129th start. Only eighth-fastest in practice, Bodine, from Chemung, N.Y., hustled his Ford around Pocono International Raceway at 170.326 mph. He covered 2.5 miles in 52.840 seconds for his third career pole. "Where did that come from?" Bodine asked. It also was the third consecutive top-10 qualifying effort for Bodine, who started sixth a week ago in Loudon, N.H. He said there was no easy explanation for his lap Friday. "The corners are so different, it's easy to mess up in one and get the other two, but if you do you won't have a good lap," he explained. "I got lucky in all three corners. "It's so tough to get your package together here, but usually you see some guys who weren't fast in practice have a good qualifying run."
Ricky Rudd, who won both the pole and the Pocono 500 last month, was a close second at 170.274. That gave Rudd an advantage on Winston Cup points leaders Jeff Gordon and Dale Jarrett. Gordon and Jarrett, Rudd's teammate with Robert Yates Racing, came nowhere near winning the pole. Three-time Pocono winner Gordon qualified decently, going 169.163 in a Chevrolet to lock up the eighth starting spot. But Jarrett, a two-time winner on the mountaintop, had a terrible run at 164.372, beating only two of 45 drivers to take laps. "We were way loose," Jarrett said. "We knew we that when we went into turn 1. We'll just have to adjust it for the race." Rudd, who trails Gordon and Jarrett by 28 points after 19 of 36 races, wasn't ready to write off Jarrett.
"What it means is we won't see Dale for the first 150 miles of a 500-mile race," Rudd said. Drivers don't want to start deep in the field at Pocono because turbulence on the unique, triangular layout makes passing more difficult than at most tracks.' "We came into this event trying to pick up from what we qualified last time," said Gordon, who started 14th and finished second in June. "We were a little loose out there, but we'll take it." Jarrett, Gordon and Rudd have been together in the top three since Rudd's victory here, and further separated themselves from the other drivers with a Jarrett-Gordon-Rudd finish Sunday in Loudon. Locking up spots in the second row were Mark Martin and Ken Schrader. Martin went 169.622 in a Ford, and five-time Pocono pole-sitter Schrader posted a fast lap of 169.492 in a Pontiac. Starting fifth will be the Dodge of Casey Atwood, flanked by the Chevrolet of Kevin Harvick. Both are rookies. Jimmy Spencer, Bodine's teammate, was seventh. Johnny Benson and Sterling Marlin completed the top 10. Defending race champion Rusty Wallace qualified 22nd.
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