Sep 11, 2004 4 min read

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) – None of the 20 poles Ryan Newman has won in his short NASCAR career are as important as the one he earned Friday at Richmond International Speedway. Newman will start tonight’s Chevrolet 400 from the front spot, the perfect place to be for the last event before NASCAR resets the field and begins the 10-race playoff.

Newman, who qualified first with a lap at 128.700 mph in his No. 12 Dodge, is currently in eighth place in the standings. But he’s clinging to that spot, and the slightest mishap could send him spiraling out of the top 10 and disqualify him from racing for the Nextel Cup title.

“Not knowing how the race is going to start, it could be the most pole we’ve had if there’s a big crash in the middle of the field on the first lap or something crazy like that,” Newman said.

Mark Martin, currently holding the 10th and final spot in the race for the chase, qualified second with a lap at 127.407 mph in the No. 6 Ford.

Martin, an infamous pessimist who has finished second in the championship standings four times, must be flawless Saturday night to get into the title hunt.

He’s got just a 25-point lead over Jamie McMurray, and Bobby Labonte, Dale Jarrett, Jeremy Mayfield and Kevin Harvick are all mathematically eligible to crack the top 10.

“I know for positive that we are going to run good,” Martin said. “But I also know that no matter how good we are running, I can’t stop the air from coming out of a tire if it gets a hole in it. … I am tired of all this talking about it, I want to go race.”

NASCAR begins its new points system at the conclusion of Saturday night’s race. The top 10 in the standings, and anyone within 400 points of the leader, will have their points total reset into five-point increments.

Only those drivers will be eligible to race for the Nextel Cup title over the final 10 events of the year.

The pressure is clearly on.

Only five drivers are currently locked in – points leader Jimmie Johnson (qualified third), Jeff Gordon (ninth), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (14th), Tony Stewart (15th) and Matt Kenseth (16th).

Elliott Sadler, sixth in the points, only has to start the race to become eligible and he qualified 20th. Kurt Busch, who qualified 17th, simply has to finish 42nd or higher to get in.

After that it will be a scramble under the lights on Richmond’s .75-mile D-shaped oval, where the racing is usually rough, drivers are aggressive and frustrations are quick to boil over.

Add in desperate circumstances for those trying to get into the chase, and Saturday night could be full of daring, dangerous moves.

“I think there’s plenty of potential for that,” Newman said. “I think this will be the race of all races this year that would most likely happen.”

Those in the hunt have mixed feelings heading into the final qualifying event.

Martin, at 45 years old and nearing the end of his career, knows his time is running out to win a NASCAR championship.

“I don’t know how many times I have run for a championship, but obviously there are fewer in front of me than behind me,” he said. “It’s also a matter of pride, and I’m very proud of my race team. If we make it in, we’ll have an opportunity to show what they can do.

“It would be a real shame if we don’t make the cut and can’t run for it.”

Kasey Kahne, who had his fifth second-place finish last week to move into ninth in the standings, said he won’t change his approach tonight. He’ll start 11th.

“The way it’s set up, this is what it comes down to,” Kahne said. “But we really just need to do the same things we’ve been doing and it’s either going to work or it’s not.”