Labonte Earns 27th Career Pole at Richmond

RICHMOND, Va. (May 2, 2003) – Terry Labonte blistered the .75-mile oval of Richmond International Speedway on Friday, pacing NASCAR Winston Cup Series qualifying as Kellogg’s / got milk? Racing earned their first Bud Pole of 2003. All three of Labonte’s teammates will join him in the top-10 for Saturday’s event as Joe Nemechek, driver of the No. 25 UAW-Delphi Chevrolet, earned the outside pole, with Jeff Gordon sixth and Jimmie Johnson 10th. Posting a lap of 126.511 mph, Labonte, driving his No. 5 Chevrolet with a special “Ahh, the power of cheese” paint scheme, earned his third career pole position at RIR, where he’s visited Victory Lane three times. “It’s a good feeling to win the pole and our guys have done a good job preparing the car,” Labonte said. “We unloaded off the truck pretty good, we made just a few little adjustments. The team is working together real well.” The timing of the performance, his best since winning the pole at Texas Motor Speedway on April 2, 2000, was perfect as Labonte will lead the field to the green flag for Hendrick Motorsports’ 600th Winston Cup start. The two-time champion has started in the top-10 at Richmond an amazing 22 times, including a 15-race streak of top-10 starts that spanned eight years in the 1980s. The Corpus Christi, Texas, native has chalked up 27 career Winston Cup pole positions and 21 victories since joining the circuit on Sept. 4, 1978, when he started 19th and finished fourth at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. Nemechek, living up to his nickname “Front Row Joe,” earned his best starting position since winning the pole at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on Oct. 15, 2000. The Pontiac Excitement 400 is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. ET green flag from Richmond International Raceway with live coverage on MRN Radio and the FX television network.