Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, September 18, 1993 TAG: 9309180196
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: Medium
Wallace's crew had to scramble to fix a broken axle on his Pontiac before qualifying for Sunday's SplitFire Spark Plug 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway. His 23.768-second lap on the mile oval left him just short of Ernie Irvan's record 151.541-mph lap in June in a Chevrolet.
Irvan, now driving a Ford with the former team of the late Davey Allison, nearly clipped Wallace from the pole with a 23.812-second, 151.184-mph lap at the end of qualifying.
Jeff Gordon, in a Chevrolet, and Geoff Bodine and Mark Martin, in Fords, completed the top five qualifiers for the $820,700 race. Earnhardt will start ninth.
All 20 drivers who nailed down starting spots Friday beat the fall-event record of 148.075 mph by Martin in 1988.
Despite winning the pole, Wallace needs some breaks to catch Earnhardt with seven races to go. He is in second place, 284 points behind the five-time champion, with 185 points possible for one driver in a race. After a victory Saturday night in Richmond, Wallace thinks momentum is on his side.
"I think any time somebody wins the previous week they bring a little momentum with them," said Wallace, who won the title in 1989. He has won six races and has finished no worse than sixth in his last four events.
Wallace, winning the 15th pole of his career but his first at Dover, has never won on the high-banked track. He has finished third here three times, the last time in May 1992.
"I've got a good car, but this is the longest race on the roughest race track as far as the asphalt. The asphalt's really rough here," Wallace said.
Wallace said the car was good from the start of practice Friday, but after getting tires ready for qualifying, he went out onto the track for one last bit of practice.
"I pulled out of the garage and I heard this wild, crunching, breaking sound in the rear of the car," Wallace said. "It broke an axle.
"We did a little thrashing, put it all back together and got it all just right."
He had made only six practice laps before qualifying.
Irvan said of his near-miss, "It just wasn't our day."
The race will be Geoff Bodine's first for the team of the late Alan Kulwicki. He bought the team during the season, but retained his driving duties with Bud Moore's team until this week.
"That's a good start for this race team," said Bodine, whose brother, Brett, crashed in practice before qualifying and was taken to a Dover hospital with a broken right wrist. "It was tough to concentrate, because I sure saw those skid marks when I went out. . . . I'd lie to you if I said it didn't shake me up."
Brett Bodine was undergoing tests Friday at Kent General Hospital and it was unclear whether he would remain in the hospital overnight. His status for the race Sunday also was uncertain.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB