CONCORD, N.C. - Scott Riggs started on the pole for the Nextel Open qualifying race Saturday night and led 29 of 30 laps to earn a spot in the Nextel All-Star Challenge.

The Open was for drivers who hadn't won a race in 2005 or 2006, or who haven't won an all-star race or championship in the past 10 years.

"It feels good to win; it feels better that we get to go to the next race," Riggs said. "We're getting better. This is good for us. It was like 30 laps of qualifying."

While Riggs won one of the qualifying spots in the all-star race, Kyle Petty, as expected, won the other. Race and series sponsor Nextel opened the final slot to the winner of a fan vote.

Petty started a campaign to be voted into the all-star race, promising to donate all of his earnings to the Victory Junction Gang Camp for critically ill children. The campaign not only was popular among the fans, but he also had the support of several other drivers who asked their fans to vote for Petty.

HALL OF FAME FUMBLE: Organizers for Charlotte's bid to win the NASCAR Hall of Fame kicked around the idea of sacrificing the Nextel All-Star race if they could build the hall.

That was news to Lowe's Motor Speedway.

"Lord no, we didn't offer that," said speedway president H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler. "I don't know how much that was actually discussed, but we weren't part of it. We don't ever plan to give up the all-star race. In fact, we feel it's important to keep the all-star race because you're going to need a time to induct the people into the hall of fame. What better time to do that than during the all-star week?"

The plan wasn't pushed too hard by local officials. Charlotte apparently became the early front-runner in a competition with Atlanta; Daytona Beach, Fla.; Richmond, Va.; and Kansas City, Kan., to win the hall of fame.

NASCAR awarded Charlotte the hall in April.

YATES RUMBLINGS: Both Robert Yates Racing teams - Fords driven by Dale Jarrett and Elliott Sadler - struggled at Lowe's Motor Speedway in preparation for the Nextel All-Star Challenge, and it only got worse when it was reported that Sadler's crew chief, Tommy Baldwin, was fired Friday night.

However, Baldwin wasn't fired.

In fact, he was working Sadler's pit stall during the Nextel Open qualifying race.

But that wasn't the end to the team's problems. Jarrett announced last week that he was leaving for Toyota and Michael Waltrip Racing, and his problems at his current employer worsened when he spun during practice.

"We just can't find the balance for this car," Jarrett said of the new Fusion. "We've really been fighting an aero-push. It's not been from a lack of effort. Tommy Baldwin and (Richard) "Slugger" Labbe work as hard as anyone else in this garage area."

Sadler crashed during qualifying Friday. Worse yet, it was the same car he planned to use in next week's Coca-Cola 600. For Sadler, it was another problem in a season of frustration.

"It just shows the way our year has gone," he said.