Labonte wins Pontiac pole; Nadeau critically injured

RICHMOND, Va. -- Terry Labonte won his first pole in more than three years in qualifying before Jerry Nadeau was critically injured in a crash while practicing Friday at Richmond International Raceway.

Nadeau, who qualified 12th, was airlifted from the track with what doctors said was "the potential for serious injuries" after slamming his Pontiac into the wall. NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Nadeau was in critical condition at the nearby Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.

Hunter provided no specific information on Nadeau's injuries. He said the hospital was prevented from saying more while awaiting the arrival of the driver's wife, Jada, who was traveling from South Carolina after attending her grandfather's funeral. NASCAR sent a plane to pick her up.

Rescue crews cut the roof off Nadeau's car to get him out. NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said the 32-year-old driver from Danbury, Conn., was alive at the time, but he didn't know if Nadeau was conscious.

When practice resumed, Busch series driver Jason Keller drove Nadeau's backup car.

Earlier, Labonte was surprised when the 126.511-mph lap he posted early in the session withstood challenges from 31 other drivers. It is his 27th career pole and first on the three-quarter-mile oval since 1997.

"After I qualified, I thought, 'Well, that probably could be a top 10,' " the two-time Winston Cup champion said. "Then, when I was sitting there watching, I thought, 'Gosh, this could probably be a top five.'

"Then I got kind of nervous for the last two. I thought, 'I'm going to be kind of mad if these two guys beat us. It's so close up there.' "

Labonte's Chevrolet bumped that of Hendrick Motorsports teammate Joe Nemechek to the outside of the front row for Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400. Nemechek's fast lap was 126.369.

"I would have been happy to get a top-10," Labonte said.

Nemechek, like Labonte, said his car was fast all day long.

"We made quite a few changes today. We made a lot of run," Nemechek said. "Every change we made, it seemed to make the car faster."

Only driver error might have cost Nemechek a shot at the pole.

"My first lap was my fast lap and the second one I didn't drive it quite hard enough to go any faster," he said. "But that is one of those things you do here. If you drive it too hard, sometimes you go slower."

Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Bobby Labonte qualified in the second row, giving Chevys a sweep of the top four positions. Ryan Newman was fifth in a Dodge.

The Hendrick team wound up with four qualifiers in the top 10.