Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 24, 1993 TAG: 9307240086
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
But Elliott took advantage of a cooler track late Friday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway to win the pole for Sunday's DieHard 500 with a speed of 192.397 mph in his Ford Thunderbird.
It was actually Elliott's second pole this weekend. On Thursday he won the top spot for today's Fram Filters 500K race for Grand National cars.
"I think the weather probably helped out a little bit, going as late as we did," Elliott said. "It really surprised me. We need to win a race this year, and as quickly as we can, to kind of help get things going in a better direction."
Elliott has won at least one race a year since 1983, but his best finish this year was third last weekend at Pocono. Besides that, he's earned a sixth and three ninth-place finishes. He's 15th in Winston Cup points.
"After Pocono last weekend, it's good to at least see the front, and not from a lap down," he said. "Everybody kind of assumes the worst as hard as things are going. But it's easy to get off. And all of a sudden instead of being a little off, you're way off. But we've been running better and I still feel like this team could win a race at any point in time."
But he hasn't, so everyone more or less overlooked Elliott until Friday. Before he stole the show, the focus was on Indy-car driver Gordon, who is the late Davey Allison's substitute here, and Bonnett, who is making a one-race comeback after a three-year absence from the head injury he suffered in a crash at Darlington, S.C., in 1990.
Gordon was fourth fastest at the time he ran, but when it was all over, he had earned the 14th starting spot. Bonnett qualified 20th.
It was the year's most competitive pole battle, with eight other drivers holding onto the top spot before Elliott ran. It was also the closest margin of difference in 1993 between the first and second qualifiers.
Ernie Irvan qualified second in a Chevy at 192.359. Brett Bodine was third fastest at 192.004 in his Ford, followed by Kyle Petty in a Pontiac Grand Prix at 191.547 and Ricky Rudd in a Chevy at 191.371. Also in the top 10 were Rick Mast in a Ford (191.050), Greg Sacks in a Ford (191.004), rookie Jeff Gordon in a Chevy (190.833), Hut Stricklin in a Ford (190.822) and Rick Wilson in a Pontiac (190.818).
Perhaps the most surprising driver to crack the top 20 was Jimmy Means, who will start 17th after a lap at 190.404 in his Ford. Means' best previously starting spot this year was 28th here in May.
The stifling heat, with temperatures above 100 degrees, kept speeds down during the first half of the two-hour plus qualifying session, but the sun went behind the clouds during the final hour.
Of the top 10 drivers, only Mast ran during the first half of the session. And of the final 10 cars to qualify on the 2.66-mile track, seven broke into the top 10.
"We really lucked out here in May" with the weather, Elliott said. "I guess we're paying for it this time around."
Among those who failed to crack the top 20, and will have another opportunity during a second round of time trials at 10:30 a.m. today, are Morgan Shepherd (22nd), Mark Martin (24th), Jimmy Spencer (26th), Ken Schrader (27th), Rusty Wallace (30th), Geoff Bodine (31st), Sterling Marlin (33rd) and Terry Labonte (35th).
Meanwhile, another veteran, Buddy Baker, who is driving a Rick Hendrick car here this weekend, has no option other than to try again today after running 46th fastest of the 47 cars that made qualifying attempts.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB