Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 21, 1992 TAG: 9203210191
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: STATE
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Long
Craven, whose past success in Busch Grand National racing has come strictly on his home turf in the North, proved Friday at Martinsville Speedway that he can mash the gas pedal below the Mason-Dixon Line, too.
"I think the racing fraternity down here is going to have to accept me now because I've just paid my dues," said Craven, ecstatic after winning the pole position for Sunday's 200-lap portion of the Miller Genuine Draft 500 tripleheader.
"Fitting in down here is so important to me. I'm good friends with Jeff Gordon and Kenny Wallace, and to them, I was already one of the boys. Now, the others can take notice," he said.
The 25-year-old Newburgh, Maine driver couldn't help but be noticed Friday. Craven and his team, led by former Winston Cup crew chief Darrell Bryant, was one of the few on pit road who found the right answers.
"The radial tires have made a big difference here, plus the track is a little slick," Craven said. "During the last practice, we weren't quick enough to be on the pole. But we made some changes with the air pressure in the tires, and obviously, we found the right thing."
The pole was Craven's first in a stand-alone Busch Grand National event. He has won three poles and two races the past two years in combination Busch Grand National-Grand National North tour events held at Oxford, Maine and Loudon, N.H.
"My mind-set is I know that I compete in this environment," Craven said. "I've done it up North, so why not do it down here, too. When I won at Oxford and New Hampshire, a lot said, `Well, he's on his home turf.' Now, I've done it here, too, and that's very important to me."
Craven, who won 10 races en route to the GN North championship last year, figures to be a virtual shoo-in for 1992 Busch Grand National rookie-of-the-year honors.
"This is our fifth race, I'm a rookie driver and we're right on schedule," he said. "Hey, I'm going to be around for a long time. Now we've got a pole, maybe we can pick up a win somewhere, too."
Craven's stout 90.559-mph run in a Chevrolet denied Tracy Leslie his first career Busch Grand National pole. Leslie's Oldsmobile reached 90.425 mph.
Defending Busch Grand National champion Bobby Labonte took third at 90.326. Chuck Bown, the 1990 tour champion, was fourth at 90.149 but was disqualifed when NASCAR officials found his Pontiac to be equipped with an illegal carburetor.
Others making Friday's top 20 included former Martinsville winners Steve Grissom (fifth), Tommy Houston (10th), Jimmy Hensley (11th), Richmond's Tommy Ellis (12th) and South Boston's Jeff Burton (14th).
Ellis' job of getting to the front was made more difficult late Friday afternoon, when he rammed the wall in turn 1.
\ Youngster Jeff Gordon's shot at making Busch Grand National history ended up in Martinsville's third-turn wall Friday morning.
Gordon was denied a chance at what would have been a record fourth consecutive tour pole when he crashed his Ford Thunderbird after the throttle linkage hung during practice.
"It's a heck of a way to lose a shot at a fourth straight pole," said the 20-year-old phenom, who came to Martinsville on the heels of three straight poles and his first Busch Grand National win, last Saturday at Atlanta.
Gordon said his team had just bolted on a carburetor borrowed from Bobby Labonte's team before the mishap occurred.
"NASCAR didn't like the carburetor we had on the car, so we got another one from Labonte's team," said Gordon, looking at his mangled car. "But there was something different in how the linkage worked on that one than on the carburetor we had. We didn't know it and now we've got a destroyed car."
Since Gordon hadn't practiced his backup car, NASCAR would not permit him to participate in Thursday's first-round time trials.
"That's bull," groused Bill Davis, Gordon's car owner. "This division will always be bush league as long as they've got rules like that."
In a last-ditch effort to get his backup car into the qualifying session, Davis phoned NASCAR vice president Les Richter in Daytona Beach, Fla., but Richter said the rule had to be enforced.
Davis said Richter told him the rule would be changed before the tour's next race at Darlington, S.C.
\ New Yorker Jan Leaty, using what he termed an "unrehearsed, wing-it setup" after NASCAR officials found problems with his car's tire width in inspection, won the pole position for Sunday's 200-lap Modified season opener.
In what could be called a qualifying rout, Leaty beat runner-up Mike Ewanitsko by nearly 1 mph. Leaty's Chevy was clocked at 97.825 mph, and Ewanitsko registered at 96.874.
Don "Satch" Worley of Rocky Mount was the only area driver to make Friday's top 20, qualifying eighth at 96.288.
\ The final 10 spots in each of the three 30-car starting fields will be established today through six 25-lap qualifying races - two in each division - beginning at 1 p.m.
Sunday's tripleheader takes the green flag at noon. The 100-lap Late Model Stock Car race goes first, with the 200-lap Busch Grand National and Modified races to follow.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.