Elliott On Nascar Pole

Bill Elliott won the pole in first-round qualifying for the Exide 400 at Richmond (Va.) International Raceway.

Dale Earnhardt, back in the car after his mysterious and unexplained episodes of sleepiness and disorientation in the Southern 500 last Sunday, qualified 22nd with a lap of 123.570. He hasn’t won in 50 races.

Spokane’s Chad Little failed to qualify. The field will be filled out today with the race following tonight.

Rookie Steve Park overtook Jeff Burton with 42 laps to go Friday night and repeatedly showed he had the strongest car on several late restarts to win the Autolite Platinum 250 Busch Grand National race in Richmond, Va.

Park padded his lead in the battle for the rookie of the year award he’s already clinched, posting his third victory and 10th top-10 finish. Both are records for a first-year driver in the 16-year history of the series, with five races remaining.

Alex Zanardi, who was fined $25,000 last week at Vancouver for rough driving, says he was not doing anything wrong. Despite the controversy, the 30-year-old Italian, on the brink of his first PPG CART World Series championship, was all business Friday in the opening round of time trials for Sunday’s Texaco-Havoline 300-Kilometer race on the road course at Laguna Seca Raceway in Monterey, Calif.

Scott Pruett briefly took the top spot late in the qualifying session with a lap of 117.308 mph. But Zanardi’s final lap of 117.895 on the 2.238-mile, nine-turn road course was quick enough to relegate Pruett to second place.