Blaney

RICHMOND, Va. -- Dave Blaney had a day to remember.

Blaney's team brought a Ford for the Monte Carlo 400 that he qualified fifth in for a race at Loudon, New Hampshire. He went out for practice Friday and promptly crashed on the second lap, forcing him to go to a backup car.

In that one, he qualified third.

"We dragged one out of the trailer that we really didn't have much experience with and we ended up qualifying good,'' Blaney said.

The start will be Blaney's best of the season, and with his team in 22nd place in the championship standings, perhaps the start of something?

"We've had some unfortunate things that have taken us out of contention,'' he said. "You get in contention for a solid top 10 and get a flat tire or knocked out or something happens. It's hard to keep building when stuff like that happens, and that's been going on lately.''

His good fortune also included being the last man on the track.

"No doubt the late draw was good,'' he said. "I got to watch everybody and see that you could overdrive it easy and run it too hard.''

Making his Mark
Mark Martin dropped from second to third in the Winston Cup standings after Jeff Gordon won his second consecutive race last weekend at Darlington, S.C. But Martin feels good this weekend.

"This thing has always felt, from the first lap I turned here, that it was going to be a contender, and I'll guarantee you we'll be a contender tomorrow when this things kicks off,'' Martin said of his Ford, which qualified fourth for Saturday night's Monte Carlo 400 Winston Cup race.

In 33 career Winston Cup starts at Richmond, Martin gained his only victory in 1990. He's had 10 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes.

What's up, Doc?
Richmond International Raceway held a Looney Tunes promotion for the second year in a row, and it again featured a golf cart race among eight drivers paired with costumed cartoon characters.

Gordon, who was paired with Bugs Bunny, wound up the big loser in the race after falling out of the golf cart he was riding in with Bugs.

"Do I have burns on my back?'' Gordon asked after the race.

Jimmie Johnson, whose Winston Cup car is co-owned by Gordon and Rick Hendrick, ran over Gordon's hand during the race, then stopped and gave his boss a ride back to his hauler for the start of practice later.

"I ran over the hand he writes my checks with, so I figured I'd better go pick him up and bring him back,'' Johnson said.

Jeff Green won the race, and jokingly called seeing Gordon sprawled on the pavement as he zipped by one of the highlights of his racing career.

"It was 4½ more laps of laughing for me,'' said Green, who won the use of a Corvette for a month and a large stuffed version of Bugs Bunny.

"We don't have any kids, but we've got two Labradors and they'll make mincemeat out of that Bugs Bunny,'' Green said of the 3-foot-tall doll.

Pit stops
There have been seven different winners in the last nine Winston Cup races at RIR. The only repeater, Tony Stewart, has won three times. ... Carl Long was the only driver not to make the Cup field.