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Dominant Dodge Atwood takes first career pole, Andretti qualifies second
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com AVONDALE, Ariz. -- Someone forgot to tell Dodge that the one-mile Phoenix International Raceway isn't a superspeedway. Though Dodge had won five poles before Friday's qualifying session for the Checker Auto Parts 500, none had come on a track shorter than 1.5 miles (and four of the five came at Daytona and Talladega, the two longest tracks on the circuit). But there are rookie Casey Atwood and John Andretti, Dodge drivers both, starting Sunday's race from the front. It is the first pole of Atwood's career and Andretti's best start of the year. Bill Elliott qualified sixth, putting three Dodges in the top six starting spots. "I never really set a goal to win a pole, but this definitely makes up for a lot of this season's struggles," said Atwood, widely touted as a rookie of the year candidate before the season, but has managed just two top-10 finishes this year. "Anywhere in the top 15 or top 20 here is a good starting spot, but there's really nothing better than the pole."
Like Atwood, Andretti has endured his share of struggles this season, qualifying in the top 10 just five times before Friday. Though he was pleased by the result, he had hoped for something more -- just not for the reasons you might have expected. "I'm more disappointed about Kyle not being on the pole than I am about not winning the pole," Andretti said of his friend and teammate Kyle Petty, who had been fastest in Friday morning's practice. "That would have been nice for a lot of reasons. This has been a very difficult season for us, and [if he'd won], it would have given you a reason to talk about us." As it was, Petty managed to qualify 28th. But don't worry, John, we'll still talk about Petty Enterprises: with Buckshot Jones qualifying 19th, it marks just the 16th time in 32 races this year that all three Petty cars have qualified for the race. Jeff Burton, the defending champion, jumped from 29th on his first lap all the way to third, matching his best start of the year. "I knew the first lap was really slow," Burton said, "so I changed the way I entered the corners and we picked up quite a bit. For once I actually guessed right. Normally I guess wrong." Like Burton, current points leader Jeff Gordon went from bad to better, though he wasn't able to match Burton's leap. But Gordon, a terrible 39th on his first lap, improved to 13th (he was bumped one spot and will start 14th), thereby shattering any hope that fans might witness The Kid's first provisional. No, Gordon's streak of never having to rely on his reputation to make a race is intact, but Kevin Harvick's isn't. Harvick went out slow and stayed slow, running 43rd. It is the first time this season that Harvick has been forced to use a provisional to make a race.
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