Gordon takes third Brickyard pole

Gordon was the fourth of 55 NASCAR Winston Cup Series drivers to make a qualifying attempt at the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

His time of 50.108s in the DuPont Automotive Finishes Chevrolet earned him his record third pole for this event, breaking the record he shared with Ernie Irvan. Gordon also won the pole in 1995 and 1996.

'I did bobble a little bit in (Turn) 1, and I thought that would cost me,' Gordon said.

'But I think a lot of guys did the same thing. I'm really proud to sit on my third pole here at Indianapolis. This is a special place.'

Gordon broke the event-record speed of 179.394 set by Irvan during qualifying last year.

On Saturday Gordon will try for a record third victory in the race - he won the inaugural event in 1994 and again last year.

Mark Martin qualified alongside Gordon in the Valvoline Ford, while David Green tied a career best by qualifying third.

'He's a better driver than most of us, if not all of us,' Martin said of Gordon.

'And I think he drives a better car than most, if not all, of us. We'll just go race, do the best that we can. Sometimes it's good enough, sometimes it's not.'

NASCAR Winston Cup points leader Dale Jarrett qualified fourth in the Quality Care Service/Ford Credit Ford, and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top five at 178.816 in the Philips Electronics Chevrolet.

'We've got a good race car - it's the same car as last year except with a bigger fuel cell,' said Jarrett, who ran out of gas last year while dominating this event.

'We knew it was going to be tough to catch Jeff, so we worked on qualifying in the top 10.'

Among the notables who failed to qualify were three-time NASCAR Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, who announced that he will retire after the 2000 season, and two-time Brickyard pole winner Irvan.

Second-round qualifying starts at noon on Friday.