Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 13, 1991 TAG: 9104130036
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
Wallace turned the first lap of his two-lap qualification run in 16.254 seconds, or 118.051 mph, which was more than a tenth of a second faster than Dale Earnhardt, who earned the outside pole with a time of 16.369 seconds, or 117.222 mph.
Behind Earnhardt, only about a tenth of a second separated the rest of the 15 cars that qualified Friday on this .533-mile high-banked oval.
"I've never qualified really good here," said Wallace, whose previous best was the outside pole in 1987, "but the car really smoked out there. It handled real good. We ran about a tenth of a second faster than we did in practice."
Davey Allison was third quickest in qualifying, followed by Ricky Rudd, Alan Kulwicki, Mark Martin, Brett Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rick Mast and Harry Gant.
From Earnhardt's lap to that of 15th qualifier Sterling Marlin, who posted a lap in 16.482 seconds (116.418 mph), the lap times decreased almost uniformly at a rate of about 1/100th of a second per car.
Qualifying for starting positions 16 through 30 will be at noon today. Among those who didn't make the top 15 Friday and will have another qualifying opportunity today are Darrell Waltrip, Michael Waltrip, Morgan Shepherd, Bill Elliott, Terry Labonte, Derrike Cope, Rick Wilson, Dale Jarrett and Richard Petty.
Although Wallace has not won this year with his new team, which he owns with Roger Penske, he has been strong at most of the tracks and has three top-10 finishes in five events, including a fourth at Richmond and a fifth last weekend at Darlington. He is currently ninth in points for the Winston Cup championship.
Wallace said his engine builder, Harold Elliot, has designed a new engine for his Pontiac that should eliminate the motor problems he has periodically suffered since last year. Wallace lost seven engines last year and broke a valve at Rockingham this year after leading the Goodwrench 500.
"This team is in better shape than I've seen it in a long, long time," he said. "I think we've got all of our engine problems solved."
Wallace said Penske was closely involved in the engine work and lent the support of his Indy car engine experts.
"When Penske comes to town, the crew stands at attention," Wallace said. "But he doesn't put any pressure on them. They just know what's expected."
Bristol is Wallace's favorite short track. His performance here reflects that. Wallace's first Winston Cup victory came at this race in 1986 and he won it again in 1989.
"With Earnhardt right on the front row with me, we're going to have a whale of a race right when the green flag drops," Wallace said.
The 500-lap, 266.5-mile race begins at 1:10 p.m. Sunday and will be televised live by ESPN.
\ NOTES: After losing his ride in Cale Yarborough's TropArtic Pontiac following the Atlanta race, Dick Trickle was back on the track here Friday driving an unsponsored Pontiac owned by Ken Allen of Shelby, N.C.
"It's just kind of a thrown-together thing here," Trickle said. "We're just helping each other out here. We qualified decent."
Trickle qualified 21st in the Allen's Associated Glass Pontiac, three spots higher than Lake Speed, who replaced Trickle in Yarborough's car for Darlington and remains in the car for this weekend's race.
Jeff Burton won the pole - his second of the year - for today's Budweiser 250 Busch Grand National race.
"To qualify as well as we did was a bit of a surprise," Burton said after touring the track in 16.360 seconds (117.286 mph). "We felt like we had a good car to race, but we didn't feel like we had a fast qualifying car."
Ernie Irvan will start on the outside of the Grand National front row. Jimmy Hensley and Jeff Green are on the second row, followed by Michael Waltrip and Dave Rezendes, Todd Bodine and points leader Kenny Wallace and Butch Miller and David Green.
NASCAR's latest modification for its 1991 pit rules will not apply to the Busch Grand National cars, said NASCAR spokesman Chip Williams.
The new rules, which will allow tire changes under caution using an odd-even pitting sequence, are for the Winston Cup series only, Williams said.
The Grand National cars will not be allowed to change tires during yellow flags without incurring a penalty, he said.
Hensley, who has posted a victory and two poles this year without sponsorship, will get some financial help for this race from Golden Gallon, a convenience store chain based in Chattanooga.
The 250-lap race, with a $135,131 purse, starts at 1:10 p.m. and will be televised live by ESPN.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB