Stewart Joins Gordon Again on Front Row

SONOMA, Calif. —  To the surprise of practically no one, Jeff Gordon won the pole Friday for Sunday’s Save Mart/Kragen 350 road race at Sears Point Raceway, racing his Chevrolet Monte Carlo around the hillside course at 98.519 mph.

Not so expected, however, was the performance of rookie Tony Stewart, making the first road racing appearance of his Winston Cup career. In Joe Gibbs’ Home Depot Pontiac, he posted a 98.277-mph lap to take the outside pole position.

“I just wanted to make the top 25,” said Stewart, a former Indy Racing League champion who switched to stock cars this season. “I was pretty nervous watching everybody else go through qualifying. I honestly thought we’d be working on qualifying setups again tomorrow. What a relief. Now we can worry about race setups.”

It will be the second time Gordon, the three-time Winston Cup champion, and Stewart, the rookie, have started alongside each other on the front row. They also did it for the Daytona 500.

“I’m proud of that lap,” Gordon said. “You only have one lap for qualifying, so it’s tough to establish a rhythm. For the race, you can get into a rhythm. You don’t have that luxury in qualifying, but I’d say I put down a great lap.”

Stewart’s late-in-the-day effort knocked Jerry Nadeau down to third place and prevented a repeat of last year’s Sears Point front row.