Las Vegas: Jarrett continues Ford’s pole streak

Jarrett's fast lap of 172.106 miles per hour in a Ford Taurus gave him the top starting position for Sunday's UAW Daimler Chrysler 400 NASCAR Winston Cup race for the second time.

In the three years that NASCAR Winston Cup has raced at the 1.5-mile oval, Roush Racing drivers have won all three races, but drivers for Robert Yates Racing have won the pole in 1998 (Jarrett), 2000 (Ricky Rudd) and this year (Jarrett). Bobby Labonte put a Pontiac on the pole in 1999.

"If we can translate that into Sunday, it will be good," said Jarrett. "We didn't run as well last year as we would have liked to have run. The first year we won the pole here, we were running good in the race, but something broke in the engine.

"This is a race track that demands a lot of things. Obviously, the straightaways are long enough to use a lot of horsepower. But you need a car that can handle well. Getting through the corners is what it will be about on Sunday. This is a great race track to race on, but if you miss the setup just a little bit, it can make for a long day."

Johnny Benson drove his Pontiac to the outside of the front row with a lap at 171.728 mph. Jerry Nadeau's Chevrolet was third at 171.636 mph followed by Michael Waltrip's Chevrolet at 171.603 mph and Tony Stewart's Pontiac at 171.532 mph.

"When we were here a couple weeks ago testing, we did no qualifying runs at all because we worked strictly on race setup," said Jarrett. "I felt good about our race setup and didn't know what we would do for qualifying. I feel good about that now. We were a little loose for most of the day where we kept chasing the car. I knew the car didn't stick quite as good on the second lap. It was just a good lap. We were fortunate to go out at a time when we didn't have a lot of cloud cover, too."

There was a lot of concern at the start of the season concerning the Dodge Intrepid, that it would be very competitive against the Fords, Chevrolets and Pontiacs. However, Chevrolet has won the first two races with Michael Waltrip winning the season opening Daytona 500 and Steve Park winning the Dura Lube 400 last Monday at North Carolina Speedway.

Jarrett believes Sunday's race will be a good test to see if the Ford Taurus will be able to keep up with the competition.

"I don't believe a Ford has actually led a lap this year by actually taking the lead," he said. "We might have inherited the lead somewhere along the lead with pit stops and all that, but as far as going up and taking the lead, we haven't gotten to that point. We have some work to do and we just have to continue to work hard and try to make it better.

"We have to work on our setups. When you feel like you're at a little bit of a disadvantage, aerodynamic-wise, then you work harder in other areas and that is what we are going to have to do. The Chevrolet teams seem to have a really well balance car now with the adjustments that were made to their cars, so they have everything going. Obviously, we know the Pontiacs are very, very good so it should be an interesting race. This should be a good sign here, I believe, because of needing the total package to run well here. It will be a good sign on Sunday to see exactly where we do stand."

Benson's qualifying performance gives the Pontiac driver hope that he can break through with his first NASCAR Winston Cup victory.

"I've been ready to win for about two or three years now," Benson said. "Why does everybody say you have got to lose one to win one? Heck, we've lost a couple hundred of them by now. We're real happy about this year. We feel like we had a great race team last year. It's the same people, but we've got Valvoline, obviously, as a backer and it allows us to do different things and more things than we couldn't do last year.

"I've had decent success out here. We've finished with a fourth and a sixth. I was running decent the other time that I raced here but I wrecked the car. I like this place. It's flat, it's fast and I guess it's one that fits more toward my driving style, if one can."


1 Dale Jarrett, Ford, 31.376s, 172.106mph
2 Johnny Benson, Pontiac, 31.445, 171.728
3 Jerry Nadeau, Chevrolet, 31.462, 171.636
4 Michael Waltrip, Chevrolet, 31.468, 71.603
5 Tony Stewart, Pontiac, 31.481, 171.532
6 Todd Bodine, Ford, 31.497, 171.445
7 Bobby Labonte, Pontiac, 31.521, 171.314
8 Sterling Marlin, Dodge, 31.549, 171.162
9 Kurt Busch, Ford, 31.555, 171.130
10 Elliott Sadler, Ford, 31.561, 171.097
11 Ron Hornaday Jr, Pontiac, 31.574, 171.027
12 Rusty Wallace, Ford, 31.559, 171.108
13 Ward Burton, Dodge, 31.580, 170.994
14 Jeremy Mayfield, Ford, 31.603, 170.870
15 Bill Elliot, Dodge, 31.617, 170.794
16 Mark Martin, Ford, 31.617, 170.794
17 Dave Blaney, Dodge, 31.635, 170.636
18 Casey Atwood, Dodge, 31.645, 170.643
19 Jimmy Spencer, Ford, 31.646, 170.638
20 Kevin Harvick, Chevrolet, 31.647, 170.632
21 Steve Park, Chevrolet, 31.668, 170.519
22 Matt Kenseth, Ford, 31.677, 170.471
23 Joe Nemechek, Chevrolet, 31.712, 170.283
24 Jeff Gordon, Chevrolet, 31.730, 170.186
25 Ricky Rudd, Ford, 31.734, 170.164
26 Stacy Compton, Dodge, 31.740, 170.13
27 Robert Pressley, Ford, 31.743, 170.116
28 Jeff Burton, Ford, 31.775, 169.945
29 Ken Schrader, Pontiac, 31.788, 169.875
30 Jason Leffler, Dodge, 31.835, 169.625
31 Bobby Hamilton, Chevrolet, 31.850, 169.545
32 Dale Earnhardt Jr, Chevrolet, 31.871, 169.433
33 Terry Labonte, Chevrolet, 31.893, 169.316
34 Kenny Wallace, Pontiac, 31.895, 169.306
35 Ryan Newman, Ford, 31.901, 169.274
36 Hut Sticklin, Ford, 31.907, 169.242
37 Mike Skinner, Chevrolet, Provisional
38 John Andretti, Dodge, Provisional
39 Mike Wallace, Ford, Provisional
40 Robby Gordon, Chevrolet, Provisional
41 Brett Bodine, Ford, Provisional
42 Ricky Craven, Ford, Provisional
43 Buckshot Jones, Dodge, Provisional


44 Kyle Petty, Dodge
45 Brendan Gaughan, Chevrolet
46 Andy Houston, Ford
47 Rick Mast, Chevrolet
48 Nathan Wind, Bigfoot