MARTINSVILLE, Va., Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Driving a Ford Taurus, Todd Bodine won the pole Friday for Sunday's NASCAR Old Dominion 500 with a lap of 93.724 miles per hour around the .526-mile Martinsville Speedway.
It was his third pole of the season and fourth career.
Bodine's oldest brother, Geoff, won seven NASCAR modified races, four Winston Cup events and two Busch Grand National races at Martinsville. Middle brother Brett won two modified races and two Busch events at the track and Todd ran his first career sportsman race here in 1986.
Todd finally added his name to the Bodine's extended list of accomplishments with Friday's pole. Now he is hoping to join Geoff by scoring his first Winston Cup win on Sunday.
"It's important to get to victory lane, no matter what race track," Todd Bodine said. "But for myself and for my family, it would be a little more special to do it at Martinsville. I've been coming here since I was six or seven, every spring and every fall watching my brothers race, watching them sit on poles, watching them win races. I came here and changed tires for Brett on his modified car. This was the first race track I raced when I moved south to race NASCAR."
Dale Earnhardt Jr. will start on the outside of the first row with his best short track qualifying effort at 93.617 mph in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
"I don't know how we did it," Earnhardt said. "I didn't think the car was going to be that fast. I must have just hit on the marks just right. I've got to give a lot of credit to the guys. We tested and learned a lot of things. Hopefully, that's going to pay off. I just want to run good on Sunday, that's what it's all about."
Jeff Gordon, who has a 237-point lead over Ricky Rudd in the Winston Cup points standings with seven races remaining, was third at 93.488 mph in a Chevrolet.
"We're racing for points, we're racing for wins," Gordon said. "We're doing everything we can to win races and this championship. It starts on Friday and ends on Sunday."
Ford driver Dale Jarrett's 93.322 mph and Pontiac's Johnny Benson's 93.290 mph rounded out the top five of the 43-car field.
Defending champion Tony Stewart will start eighth in a Pontiac Grand Prix. Rudd qualified 19th in a Ford.
