Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 14, 1991 TAG: 9102140140
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium
"I'll just run as hard as I can go, every lap," said Rick Mast, the Rockbridge Baths, Va., driver who starts third in the first 125-mile race in an Oldsmobile.
"We're going to use the 125 as kind of a judge or key as to what we need to do for the 500," Mast said. "But if you hold the car back a little bit, you won't really tax the car and the car might not show a tendency to be a little loose or a little tight. So in the qualifying race I've got to run all out every lap."
Said Ernie Irvan, "It pays $35,000 to win. Basically here at Daytona you're going to run hard all the time. You start lifting and you're going to get beat."
Davey Allison also said he plans to go for victory, but he doesn't plan on taking any big risks. Allison starts on the pole for Sunday's 33rd Daytona 500, and Irvan starts on the outside of the front row, no matter where they finish in the qualifying races unless they wreck their cars.
"We may be a little more conservative, but we want to win the race, that's our goal," Allison said. "But if we see that it's going to jeopardize the race car to do that, than sure, we'll probably back off and give ourselves a little room."
Under the unique qualifying rules for the Daytona 500, only the first two starting spots were set after Saturday's one-lap qualifying runs. Allison and Irvan won those with qualifying speeds of 195.955 mph and 195.639 mph, respectively.
The rest of Saturday's qualifying runs simply established the starting order for the Twin 125s, from fastest to slowest. Twenty-nine cars will start each race.
The general opinion around the track Wednesday was that the second 125-mile race has the strongest field. It features Irvan, Sterling Marlin, Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, Mark Martin, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Ruttman, Terry Labonte, Rusty Wallace, Dick Trickle and Kyle Petty in the first five rows.
The first race has Mast, Allison, Harry Gant, Ricky Rudd, Alan Kulwicki, Bill Elliott, Richard Petty, Dale Jarrett, Hut Stricklin and Michael Waltrip in the first five rows.
The top 14 finishers in each 125-miler (excluding Allison and Irvan) will fill positions 3-30 in the 500. Positions 31-40 will be filled by cars with the top qualifying speeds that are not already in the field.
There also is room for up to three provisional starters.
If the races run without a caution period, fuel mileage will be a concern. Most teams will be pushing their cars to the limit.
Rudd has seen the dark side of taking a gamble stretching the fuel supply. "Last year in the 125 we were running fourth or fifth and we gambled on making it," he said. "We missed it by one lap."
The races will be run under NASCAR's complex new pit rules, which prohibit tire changes on yellow flags and establish an odd-even pitting arrangement for tire changes on the second and third green-flag laps after a caution period.
"I don't see the new pit-road rules coming into play in the Twins unless there's an accident on the track," Rudd said. "You're not going to change tires in the 125 unless you run over something."
\ Drivers in this year's four-race International Race of Champions series drew for position Wednesday for the first race, which will be held at Daytona on Friday and telecast on ABC at 5 p.m. March 17.
IMSA champion Geoff Brabham is on the pole for the 100-mile race (40 green-flag laps), and defending IROC champion Dale Earnhardt starts on the outside of the first row.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB