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Masterful in Michgan B. Labonte nabs pole for GFS Marketplace 400Posted: Friday August 15, 2003 8:44 PMUpdated: Saturday August 16, 2003 11:42 AM
He picked up his second straight Michigan pole, topping qualifying Friday for the GFS Marketplace 400 and earning his fourth pole at the track in the Irish Hills. The 2000 Winston Cup champion turned a lap of 190.240 mph, just a bit shy of the 190.365 that earned him the pole on the 2-mile, high-banked Michigan oval in June. Labonte, who has been mired in a slump during which he has finished no better than 14th in his last five starts and fallen from fourth to seventh in the points, became the first driver to sweep the Michigan poles since Bill Elliott in 1988. Racing here also could get him back in stride, considering Labonte has won three times and finished in the top-five 14 times in 22 starts. "I just like coming here," Labonte said. "It just falls into the category of a good track. The cars can race here from the white line [at the bottom of the banking] to the white wall, which is about 100 yards. That's a lot of fun." The qualifying session was delayed by rain for nearly two hours. Labonte said the downpour might have given him a slight advantage since he was the 16th of 43 drivers in line as the sun came out and began to bake the track surface. "If it turned out an early draw was an advantage, today was the day," said Labonte, who finished second to Kurt Busch here in the June race in his Joe Gibbs Racing Chevrolet. "The rain gave the track a little more grip early on. After that, it may have given up some grip as the track got hotter." Ryan Newman, who leads the series with five poles this season, was second this time. He went out ninth and ran a lap of 189.929. "It had a lot of grip in it," Newman said. "That sun was real good to us. It just kept cooking [the track]. "I left a little on the table through turns three and four." Robby Gordon, coming off a victory last Sunday on the road course at Watkins Glen, N.Y., was third on Friday at 189.499, followed by surprising Kevin Lepage -- making only his third Winston Cup start of the season -- at 189.086. Terry Labonte, Bobby's older brother, was next at 188.927; Jason Leffler, in only his second Cup race of the season followed at 188.828, with Christian Fittipaldi, in his ninth race of the year at 188.803. Rounding out the top 10 were Jeff Burton and Dave Blaney, both at 188.620, and Jimmy Spencer at 188.575. Busch, who started fourth here in June, will have a harder job Sunday, starting 20th in the 43-car field. The top drivers in the points had an off-day, too. Series leader Matt Kenseth qualified 33rd, runner-up Dale Earnhardt Jr. 19th and third-place Jeff Gordon 21st. "We've started farther back than that," Kenseth said, shrugging off the poor showing. "It's just a starting position and not a finishing position, We'll just have good pit stops and, hopefully, have a good handling car that can get to the front on Sunday." Kenseth, who goes into the race with a whopping 258-point lead over Earnhardt, has started better than 17th only six times but leads the series with 17 top-10 finishes in 22 starts.
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