Wallace makes it three

together, very well.
Wallace not only captured his third consecutive Bud Pole
Award for the Food City 500 earlier Friday afternoon in a brand-new Miller
Lite Ford Taurus, making it six Winston Cup career poles at Bristol, he also
set a new track record with a fast lap around the 0.533 mile high banked
speedway in 15.333 seconds, for an average speed of 125.142 mph.

"It's running great," Wallace said. "I tightened the car up a little bit for
qualifying and I actually thought I was pushing too much. It was a good lap."

For the second consecutive year, Jeff Gordon, still recovering from a hard hit
into the outside wall at Texas Motor Speedway two weeks ago, turned a lap just
.02 second slower - 15.353 seconds, 124.979 mph) - than Wallace and rounds out
the front row.

"I was in a little bit of pain," said Gordon. "I was sore on that lap. I got
everything I could out of the car."

Joe Gibbs Racing has a lock on the second row with Bobby Labonte, third
fastest, and Raybestos Rookie of the Year contender Tony Stewart starting
fourth.

Some well-known names that have had less than stellar qualifying performances
so far this season qualified during first round, along with some who would be
considered 'sure bets' ending up in the "try again tomorrow" department.

Ricky Rudd, Kenny Wallace, Bobby Hamilton, Mark Martin, Ricky Craven and Kenny
Irwin round out the top-10 for Sunday's event.

Darrell Waltrip's 15.492 second lap, 123.857 mph, gives the veteran the 12th
starting slot. Waltrip, still out of provisionals until qualifying is
completed at Martinsville Speedway next weekend, made the field on time for
the second straight race.

Kyle Petty, whose son Adam qualified third fastest for the Moore's Snacks 250
on Saturday at Bristol, will start 14th after failing to qualify for two
events and finishing 43rd twice.

Dave Marcis will line up 22nd on the grid alongside Jimmy Spencer's Team
Winston Ford.

Jeff Burton, the current Series points leader, could only manage a lap good
enough for 27th, just .003 slower than Terry Labonte, the racewinner at Texas.

Richard Childress Racing teammates Dale Earnhardt and Mike Skinner qualified
30th and 31st, respectively, while Rusty Wallace's stablemate, Jeremy
Mayfield, was 33rd quickest.

Ernie Irvan, John Andretti, Joe Nemechek were among the remaining drivers who
failed to make the top-25 during first round.

Bud Second Round qualifying is scheduled for Saturday beginning at 11:30 a.m.
EDT. The Food City 500 will take the green on Sunday afternoon at 1:15 p.m.


Bristol, TN -- 1st round qualifying results for the NASCAR Winston
Cup Series, Food City 500, Bristol Motor Speedway:

FAILED TO QUALIFY IN 1ST ROUND:

26 5 Terry Labonte
27 99 Jeff Burton
28 98 Rick Mast
29 31 Mike Skinner
30 3 Dale Earnhardt
31 41 David Green
32 36 Ernie Irvan
33 12 Jeremy Mayfield
34 22 Ward Burton
35 97 Chad Little
36 91 Dick Trickle
37 16 Kevin Lepage

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