ROUNDUP: PATIENCE VIRTUE AT MARTINSVILLE.

Byline: Staff and Wire Services

Defending Virginia 500 champion Dale Jarrett and Winston Cup points leader Sterling Marlin both start near the back of the field today at Martinsville Speedway for the Winston Cup event in Virginia.

Neither is too worried, though.

On the track's tight, half-mile laps, sometimes it can be pretty effective to be off the radar early.

``What you try to do here is get positioned,'' said Jarrett, who won in 2001 by making a late move. ``You have to be really calculating in your pits stops and know what you want towards the end of the race.''

On the oldest, shortest track in NASCAR's top series, patience is important as the field of contenders thins.

Marlin never has won here, but he has finished second twice.

``A lot can happen here with strategy,'' he said. ``A lot comes into play. We'll just try to get the car driving as good as we can and get track position early and get up there in the top five or top 10 and play the rest of the race out.''

Marlin will start 29th, while Jarrett 31st. Defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon won the pole in Friday's qualifying.

--Park the car: Kevin Harvick won't be allowed to drive in today's Virginia 500 at Martinsville Speedway, several sources told the Charlotte Observer, because of an incident in Saturday's NASCAR Truck series race.

An announcement is expected this morning, and Grand National series driver Kenny Wallace will drive Harvick's Chevrolet in today's race.

Harvick spun Coy Gibbs in Saturday's truck race and was black-flagged by NASCAR officials. He had been under NASCAR probation since a post-race incident with Greg Biffle at the Grand National series race at Bristol, Tenn., on March 23.

--Out for a spin: Darrell Waltrip's return to racing ended long before the Advance Auto Parts 250 did, and Dennis Setzer passed Terry Cook with 43 laps to go and went on to his seventh career victory.

Waltrip, who retired in from Winston Cup racing 2000 to go into TV broadcasting, lasted only 86 laps at Martinsville Speedway as a one-race fill-in for NASCAR truck series driver Stacy Compton before the rear end in his leaking Dodge failed.

--Once is enough: Scott Riggs led only once for the final 47 laps to get his first NASCAR Busch series victory in just his seventh start on the circuit at the Pepsi 300 in Gladeville, Tenn., tying a record for the quickest victory by a rookie.

--Formula One: World champion Michael Schumacher won the pole position for today's San Marino Grand Prix in record time, setting up an all-Ferrari front row.

--Drag racing: Whit Bazemore earned the top position in NHRA Funny Car competition after qualifying at the O'Reilly Spring Nationals in Baytown, Texas. Doug Kalitta, Jim Yates and Shawn Gann wound up as top qualifiers in their divisions.

--In training: Ward Imbrie, a 19-year-old from Winnipeg, won the fourth round of the Formula Dodge National Championship at California Speedway in Fontana, edging Burt Frisselle by just under half a second.

Imbrie averaged 51.6 mph, leading 19 laps and finishing the event in 32 minutes, 6.192 seconds.

The Formula Dodge National Championship is part of the official CART driver development ladder system. Each driver was in a Dodge R/T 200 racer, a Reynard-designed, all prepared as similar as possible.

Albert Unser, the 19-year-old son of Al Unser Jr., finished third.

- Louis Brewster

--More training: Six drivers tested the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during the annual Rookie Orientation Program, including Tomas Scheckter, the son of 1979 Formula One champion Jody Scheckter.

Scheckter, runner-up in the British Formula 3 series in 2000 and runner-up in the Formula Nissan championship last year, passed his IRL rookie test in January and is 16th in the standings after three races this season.

Scheckter, Rick Treadway, Anthony Lazzaro, George Mack and John de Vries finished all four speed phases of the test Saturday.

TODAY'S NASCAR RACE

Event: Virginia 500

Track: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway

Time/TV: 10 a.m., FX

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TODAY'S NASCAR RACE (see text)