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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Gordon On Indycar Pole

Compiled From Wire Services

Robby Gordon smashed the track qualifying record in winning the pole position for the Bosch Spark Plug Grand Prix at Nazareth Speedway.

Gordon, 26, whose first IndyCar victory came April 2 on the 1-mile oval at Phoenix International Raceway, turned a fast lap of 187.441 mph on Nazareth’s one-mile circuit to earn the third pole of his career and his first on an oval track.

For the second straight NASCAR Winston Cup Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, the Joe Gibbs Racing team is fielding a driver nursing a fracture.

Last September Dale Jarrett competed in the Goody’s 500 on the .526-mile track with a broken wrist. He started eighth and finished fifth.

Bobby Labonte, who replaced Jarrett with Gibbs’ Huntersville-based Chevrolet team in the off-season, goes into today’s action still recovering from the cracked shoulder he suffered last month in the TranSouth 400 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

Labonte is to start from the pole after qualifying Friday with a lap of 93.308 mph, giving former Washington Redskins coach Gibbs his first No. 1 start as a team owner.

Kirk Rogers of Spokane qualified 36th for today’s $128,856 American Speed Association’s AC-Delco Challenge Series Buckeye 300 at the one-third mile Columbus (Ohio) Motor Speedway.