RICHMOND, VA. Expect pole record to fall, drivers say

Tony Stewart said the resurfaced 3/4-mile oval will only get better with age.
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- A new asphalt surface at Richmond International Raceway should result in a record qualifying speed.
"The pole record will fall for sure," said Jeff Gordon, trying for his third consecutive Nextel Cup victory Saturday night in the Chevy American Revolution 400.
The track is smoother and faster than ever, leaving the development of a second racing groove as the biggest question heading into this weekend's NASCAR events.
"It's going to be history, I can tell you that right now," Elliott Sadler said of Ward Burton's two-year-old qualifying record.
Last week, Sadler and about 20 other drivers tested on the fresh blacktop.
The speed
Sadler easily beat Burton's qualifying speed of 127.389 mph while running in a racing setup rather than a qualifying setup. Gordon said he also beat Burton's mark, and did it on tires he'd been using for 30 laps.
The resurfacing of the three-quarter-mile oval removed bumps that were more of a nuisance to IRL cars, which race here next month. Still, going fast in a qualifying groove used by everyone is one thing, and going fast while racing against 42 other cars is quite another.
Tony Stewart, who has three career Cup victories and two in truck races at Richmond, said the faster the cars are going, the harder it will be to pass because speed makes aerodynamics more of a factor than at a normal short-track race.
"I'm not sure the racing will be as good as everybody hopes, but the good thing is that as long as the surface holds up throughout the weekend, it'll be a surface that'll last for a very long time and probably only get better with age," Stewart said.
That second groove, he said, is crucial to the quality of the show, allowing for the side-by-side, physical style of racing under the lights that typifies Richmond.
With a softer tire in use and a Busch series race scheduled for Friday night, some drivers expect the laps run before the main event to be enough to develop that second line.
Among them is short-track ace Rusty Wallace, who took laps last week while trying to keep alive his resurgence on circuits shorter than a mile.
Short-track success
In the season's first two short-track races, Wallace was second at Bristol and won at Martinsville, ending an agonizing winless string that lasted almost three years.
Now, Wallace is giddy, like a child anticipating this weekend. He leads active drivers with six victories at Richmond, has 25 of his 55 career victories on short tracks and is bringing the same car he won with at Martinsville.
"All the transitions in the turns and the banking remained the same so it'll be the usual great racing everyone expects to see at Richmond," Wallace said. "We'll be absolutely flying around the bottom of the place and I think the second groove will come right back as soon as we get some laps on the new surface."