Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, March 8, 1990 TAG: 9003081461
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At last, they won't have to worry about a pest named Dale Earnhardt.
"Believe me," GN driver Chuck Bown said Wednesday, "it doesn't bother me one bit that Earnhardt is not going to be here."
One can deduce that none of the tour's other regulars care about Earnhardt's whereabouts, either.
For the first time this season, Earnhardt and his black Chevrolet will not be in the GN garage. Therefore, everybody else has a chance.
"Dale has been rather dominant so far," Bown said.
Earnhardt has won at Daytona and Rockingham and finished second at Richmond in the GN tour's first three races.
In Sunday's $203,213 Miller 500 tripleheader, somebody else will get a chance.
Action cranks up today at 2 p.m., when GN qualifying begins on the low-banked .526-mile oval.
Positions 1-20 in each of Sunday's 200-lap races will be established today.
Among the favorites for the GN pole are defending race champion Tommy Ellis, Tommy Houston, L.D. Ottinger, Dale Jarrett, Kenny Wallace, Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths, and local favorites Bown and Jimmy Hensley of Ridgeway. Two invading Winston Cup drivers - Harry Gant and Morgan Shepherd - also will be serious pole threats.
In the Modified division, qualifying favorites include past Martinsville winners Reggie Ruggiero, Jeff Fuller, Mike Ewanitsko and Rocky Mount native Don "Satch" Worley.
The third competing NASCAR division - the Late Model Stock Car class - will take over the speedway on Friday, with time trials beginning at 2 p.m.
The final 10 spots in each of the three fields will be established in six 25-lap qualifying races on Saturday.
The 100-lap LMSC show begins Sunday's card at noon. The 200-lap Modified and GN events will follow.
by CNB