Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 17, 1994 TAG: 9404170133
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-12 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORTH WILKESBORO, N.C. LENGTH: Long
And when it was over, 10 drivers headed home early, including first-time non-qualifier Mike Wallace.
The others were Jimmy Hensley, Steve Grissom, Joe Nemechek, Mike Skinner, Curtis Markham, Ward Burton, Freddy Query, Rich Bickle and Loy Allen Jr.
Jeff Burton and Bobby Labonte also failed to make the field but received the two provisional starting spots, which are based on car owner points.
Labonte didn't get a chance to try to qualify again Saturday because NASCAR inspectors found a set of illegal tires on his Pontiac Grand Prix when it was brought to prequalifying inspection. Gary Nelson, NASCAR's Winston Cup director, fined the team $2,000 and parked the car for the day, which meant Labonte was barred not only from qualifying but from the final practice Saturday afternoon.
NASCAR inspectors said the team apparently had altered the NASCAR markings on a set of tires, which suggested that they were trying to use a fourth set of tires. Each team is limited to three sets of tires for all prerace practice and qualifying, and NASCAR marks them to keep track of them.
Car owner Bill Davis would not admit his team was cheating, but he wasn't critical of NASCAR's action. He was quick to say: "We've accepted our punishment with no whining, and we'll keep better check of the serial numbers from here on out."
The NASCAR penalties did not affect Labonte's Friday speed, which left him 35th fastest after Saturday's second round. Davis is 18th in car owner points, which was good enough for the second provisional starting spot.
Meanwhile, Allen crashed on his second qualifying lap Saturday and failed to make his third race in a row. He's made only three of seven races this year, despite winning the pole at Daytona and Atlanta.
Fifteen drivers tried to requalify Saturday, abandoning their Friday speeds.
For Curtis Markham and for Wallace, it was the wrong decision. After Friday's first round, they were sitting in 33rd and 34th, respectively - the final two regular starting spots.
They should have just not shown up Saturday, or gotten sick, or locked themselves in their haulers. Had they done nothing Saturday, they would have made the race on their Friday speeds.
But they gambled they would be faster Saturday. Instead, both were slower. Wallace was 39th fastest; Markham was 42nd.
"I didn't think the track would slow down as much as it did," Wallace said. "In hindsight, we should have stood on our [Friday] time. But we thought we would run better. It's tough to be this close and not be able to run."
Hensley, who was 36th, missed making the race by thirty-seven-thousandths of a second. He also missed the Bristol race by a fraction of a second.
The tension also affected some of the teams that didn't try to requalify. Dale Jarrett, who has used all of the provisional starting spots available to him at this point in the season, was 30th after Friday's qualifying.
Jarrett, team owner Joe Gibbs and crew chief Jimmy Makar called the entire team together to decide whether to requalify or stand on the Friday time.
They decided to stand on their time. But if five drivers had been faster Saturday than Jarrett had been Friday, he would have gone home.
"Yeah, it was a tough call," Gibbs said.
"It's no fun letting everybody line up and shoot at you, but it's better than taking the gun and shooting yourself," Jarrett said. "We made the decision this morning whether to go or not to go. We asked everybody on the crew, and everybody agreed we ought to stand. We agreed we'd either race together or go home together and watch it on TV."
\ TOO FAST: Some of the close racing that has made Winston Cup the country's premier auto racing series has been missing in 1994, and Ernie Irvan said he believes it's because the cars are going too fast.
Irvan, who broke the track record by almost 1 1/2 mph Friday to win the pole for today's First Union 400, said the tire war has caused speeds to increase and the amount of side-by-side racing to decrease.
"What's happened is the tires have gotten so good, it's taken away from the competition," he said. "There's no outside groove on many of the race tracks we go to because you go so fast on the bottom.
"Bristol was one of the sorriest races we've had in awhile. At Bristol, we didn't need to be going that fast to do the job we needed to do," Irvan said. "I think it has taken away from most of our shows. It's follow the leader. You don't need [that much speed] to have a really good, safe race.
"It wasn't like it was three or four years ago," he said. "If you make it where the cars don't handle as good, that's when we have good racing. We're here to put on a heck of a show for the fans. That's what we work for."
\ MYERS' MOD WIN: Gary Myers of Walnut Cove, N.C., swept past leader Frank Fleming's failing car with less than two laps to go, winning the Lowe's 150 modified race here Saturday. Bobby Hutchens of Winston-Salem was second, followed by Philip Smith of Kernersville, Tim Arre of New Jersey and Kenny Minter of Martinsville, Va.
\ DOUBLING UP: Since the speedway added no new pit stalls after NASCAR expanded the short-track fields from 32 to 34 cars, several teams will have to double up in today's race.
There are 36 starters (including two provisionals) and 33 pit stalls. So teams doubling up will be those of Harry Gant and Jeff Burton, Dale Jarrett and Bobby Labonte and Darrell Waltrip and Dick Trickle.
The pit stalls selected by Gant, Jarrett and Waltrip were designated for doubling up because they were the first pit stalls at the far end of pit road large enough to accommodate two teams, said NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett. Gant, Jarrett and Waltrip will have priority on all pit stops, he said.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB