Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 16, 1994 TAG: 9404160050
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
Ernie Irvan was the point man Friday in pole qualifying for Sunday's First Union 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway as Winston Cup drivers launched their third assault on a track record in as many races.
Irvan's second and fastest lap around the .625-mile track in his Ford Thunderbird was 119.016 mph, blasting the record of 117.616 mph set in 1993 by Dale Earnhardt.
Fifteen other drivers also bettered Earnhardt's former record, approaching the ease with which records fell in first-round time trials at Darlington and Bristol. Twenty-six drivers bettered the Darlington track record; 29 surpassed the old mark at Bristol.
Irvan also was one of four drivers who carved the first laps at this track under 19 seconds. On the stopwatch, Irvan was clocked at 18.905 seconds on his first pole-winning run of 1994.
"The car just drove really good," Irvan said. "And this is not one of those race tracks where you hang it out and hang on. At Wilkesboro, if you're on the ragged edge, you're going to go slow.
"The guy who gets through the corner and gets a lot of adhesion and gets back on the gas and doesn't spin the tires usually goes really fast."
The fastest six cars were Ford Thunderbirds. Brett Bodine joined Irvan on the front row at 118.834 mph, followed by Ted Musgrave (188.802 mph), Bill Elliott (118.502) and Geoff Bodine (118.353) - the fastest driver on Hoosier tires.
Greg Sacks, another Hoosier driver, was sixth at 118.272 mph. Sterling Marlin qualified seventh in the fastest Ford at 118.234 mph, followed by Jimmy Spencer (118.085) in a Ford, Ken Schrader (118.023) in a Chevy and Terry Labonte (117.986) in a Chevy.
Jeremy Mayfield qualified a surprising 11th, followed by Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin, Hut Stricklin, Morgan Shepherd, Rusty Wallace and Rick Mast.
Michael Waltrip had the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix, qualifying 18th at 117.377 mph. Earnhardt qualified 19th, while Dave Marcis, who is on something of a hot streak, followed his 10th-place finish at Bristol with a qualifying run here that was good for 20th.
"I probably ran the car in the corner not as deep as I normally do here," Irvan said. "I noticed a lot of guys driving in the corners easier today and trying to pick the throttle back up early. That enhances your lap. The biggest thing is you can't really force a fast lap here at Wilkesboro. It's a lot of finesse here."
"No, I'm not surprised he beat me," said Brett Bodine, who held the pole for most of the session until Irvan's late run. "We'd been running about the same times in practice all day. There's one thing about it; I know he earned it by running what he ran."
Today's second round of time trials, scheduled for 12:15 p.m., promises to be another nail-biter for the bottom of the field. No more than 37 cars will make the race and 46 cars made qualifying runs Friday.
There are 34 regular starting spots. Drivers 35th or slower after Friday's session were, in order of finish, Steve Grissom, Dick Trickle, Ward Burton, Freddie Query, Jimmy Hensley, Darrell Waltrip, Joe Nemechek, Bobby Labonte, Rick Bickle, Jeff Burton, Loy Allen and Mike Skinner.
Meanwhile, two drivers who have had their problems qualifying in recent weeks - Wally Dallenbach and Dale Jarrett - seem to be in pretty good shape to make the field here. Dallenbach was 27th fastest; Jarrett was 30th.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB