Vickers nabs Richmond pole

Apparently, many had expected more grip out of the new pavement, the track having been resurfaced in April. Instead, many reported the track to be slick and greasy, confounding the set-ups devised after tests here in the past couple of weeks.

Vickers, 20-year-old Hendrick prospect, was undaunted, scoring the first ace-high of his career. Vickers's lap was made is 20.772sec (129.983mph), barely missing the 130mph mark but easily erasing Ward Burton's old track mark of 21.195 (127.389mph), set in 2002.

Vickers edged record-setting Ryan Newman for the top spot, with Newman running 20.774, a scarce 0.002 out of the lead. Jeff Green was third at 20.821, with the Petty cars showing surprising improvement, at least in qualifying. Dale Earnhardt Jr. was fourth and Jimmie Johnson fifth.

Drivers make a business of reading race tracks, but their reads on Richmond drew blanks, some with fingers crossed. Most hoped that Friday night's Busch Series preliminary would help rubber in the track, thus helping to form the semblance of a second groove. RIR is noted for its side-by-side action, but the history of newly-paved tracks has been single groove on the bottom.

"This kind of reminds me of New Hampshire [last year]," said veteran Ricky Rudd. "They repaved it, and if the track sat a while, it would get greasy. Once you get running on it, it would come back. I think that's what we've got going on here today."

"Hopefully the Busch guys will help out tonight and get us a second groove out there and it will be back to the old Richmond," added old pro Dale Jarrett.

Robby Gordon, who qualified sixth, had to return to Indianapolis for Saturday's Indy 500 pole runs. He managed an early draw for the time trials and hence will be able to return to Richmond in time for the drivers meeting, thus keeping his starting position.