THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 25, 1995 TAG: 9503250455
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
The Chevrolet Monte Carlos, led by Jeff Gordon and the Hendrick Motorsports stable, took eight of the top 10 starting positions for Sunday's TranSouth 400 as the Ford drought continued Friday at Darlington Raceway.
Gordon was in a class by himself.
His record-shattering lap of 170.833 miles per hour was almost a full mile per hour quicker than teammate Terry Labonte, second fastest at 169.854 mph.
Ken Schrader completed the Hendrick hat trick, qualifying third at 169.766 mph.
``The track had been fast and the car had been fast all day long,'' Gordon said after winning his second pole this season. ``That lap was just a little faster than what we had run in practice. But I didn't think going out as early as we did that we would be able to hold them off.''
He needn't have worried. Although every single one of the top 20 qualifiers broke Geoff Bodine's track record of 166.998 mph set last September, Gordon was more than a tenth of a second quicker than everyone else. And he was more than sixth-tenths of a second quicker than Bodine was last fall.
Meanwhile, in a seemingly endless qualifying session to fill the entire 42-car field for today's 200-mile Grand National race, Tim Fedewa won the pole at 162.905 mph in a Ford. Chad Little, in another Ford, won the second starting spot at 162.651 mph.
But it was another Chevrolet day in the Winston Cup series. Only Ricky Rudd, who qualified fourth at 169.567 mph, and Rusty Wallace, who qualified eighth at 168.250, were able to put Fords in the top 10.
Rudd was followed by Sterling Marlin at 169.426 mph in fifth. Darrell Waltrip qualified sixth at 168.469 mph, followed by Ward Burton at 168.307 mph, Wallace, Robert Pressley at 168.169 mph and Joe Nemechek at 167.980 mph.
If you were a Chevy driver here Friday and you failed to make the top 20, you had to be wondering what went wrong. Only four Chevy drivers were saddled with this plight.
The most notable was Dale Earnhardt, who nearly hit the third-turn wall during his run and was only 23rd fastest. The others were Steve Grissom, who was 32nd fastest; Dave Marcis, who was 39th; and Chuck Bown, who was 42nd fastest.
This was Bown's first day back in the series since suffering a concussion in a crash last June at Pocono that caused double vision. He said he had no problems with his eyes Friday. His trouble was under the hood of his car. He broke an oil line in morning practice, which prompted an engine change that limited practice time.
But he was thankful his problems were mechanical. ``I think I've finally healed,'' he said.
Besides Bown, those in danger of missing the race included Brad Teague, who was 40th fastest after replacing Gary Bradberry in Jimmy Means' car; Billy Standridge, who was 41st, Loy Allen, who was 43rd, and Davy Jones, who smacked the wall during his qualifying run and failed to finish.
Crash victims during practice included Ford drivers Rick Mast and Ted Musgrave. But Musgrave qualified 18th in his patched-up car and Mast was 33rd fastest in his backup.
Perhaps the merriest driver after qualifying was Fedewa.
``This is my first real pole,'' he said. ``I've been on the outside pole in my ASA days and in ARCA. I'm just happy to be here.''
The 42-car Grand National field gets the green flag at 1 p.m. today. by CNB