Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 28, 1993 TAG: 9302280069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
MARTIN HEADS FORD ASSAULT IN GOODWRENCH QUALIFYING
There was no wailing from the Ford camp Saturday at North Carolina Motor Speedway after Mark Martin won the pole in his Thunderbird and Fords locked up five of the top six starting positions for today's Goodwrench 500.Martin took the top starting spot with a lap of 149.547 mph on the 1.017-mile speedway in the only qualifying session for today's race. Friday's time trials were rained out.
Ernie Irvan was second-fastest at 149.461 mph in a Chevrolet Lumina, and the next four positions went to Fords.
Defending Goodwrench 500 champion Bill Elliott was third fastest at 149.321 mph, followed by Rick Mast, the Rockbridge Baths, Va., driver who qualified at 149.248 mph and again showed he has found speed he didn't have for the past two years. Ted Musgrave was fifth fastest at 149.169 mph, followed by Brett Bodine at 149.114 mph.
"We didn't come down here expecting to sit on the pole, so we didn't put any extra emphasis on qualifying," Martin said. "It just happened to work out today for us."
It also happened to work out for the Fords in general, at least in qualifying. Ford drivers complained loudly at Daytona that NASCAR gave the Chevrolets and Pontiacs unfair advantages. Fords were, in fact, whipped in the Daytona 500, leading only 36 of 200 laps.
Martin, who was not one of the Daytona complainers, said, "I'm not worried about rules and regulations right now. I'm worried about getting my car set up so it will run best."
About all he would say of the ongoing dispute was, "You'll see some trends in restrictor-plate racing [at Daytona and Talladega] that you might not see" at other tracks.
Rounding out the top 10 were Dale Earnhardt in a Chevy at 149.053 mph, Hut Stricklin in a Ford at 148.956 mph, Derrike Cope in a Ford at 148.739 mph and Rusty Wallace in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 148.702 mph.
Kyle Petty, who had won five of the past six poles at the track and was the runaway favorite to win another one Saturday, was 11th fastest at 148.600 mph in his Pontiac.
Petty was expected to be the first driver to break the 150-mph mark at Rockingham after reaching that speed during the morning practice.
"It's no big deal," Petty said. "We had run a little bit better than that in practice. We knew we were getting slower. I don't know why. But we were getting slower.
"There's always been two or three equal cars, especially in qualifying. The last couple of poles we've won down here, especially the last one, we won by nothing but luck. It's not getting any easier here, that's for sure."
Petty remains the favorite in today's race, which starts at 12:30 p.m., if only because of his recent record. He has won three of the past six races here. On the downside, however, he's never won here without winning the pole.
Martin said there are "no magical, mysterious things that we expect to learn from Kyle or anyone else."
"We can see where he runs around the race track when he's beating us. And we can try to go there," Martin said. "But usually we just can't go as fast as he can. Maybe we'll have the car to beat [Sunday]. We'll just have to wait and see."
Said Petty, "It's important for us to run good [Sunday]. We ran good at Daytona and didn't get a good finish. If we can come here and run good, then we're going to get a good finish."
Among those who had trouble Saturday were Jeff Gordon, who spun on his warmup lap, and Davey Allison, whose Ford had ignition problems and quit during his run.
Gordon qualified 28th with a slightly damaged car, and Allison never completed a lap. He will have to start 39th in the 40-car field, which means he will have a backstretch pit stall and lose track positions on every round of yellow-flag pit stops.
"It started missing when I shifted from second to third after I left the pits," Allison said. "And when I got to fourth gear, it really started acting up. I've won races from the back before, but that was on short tracks."
Jimmy Hensley of Ridgeway, Va., will start the race in the Ford owned by Jimmy Means, who still is recovering from injuries suffered in a crash during practice for the Daytona 500. Hensley qualified 34th.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING