Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 1, 1994 TAG: 9405010116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: D-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
"We didn't do anything" to change the car after first-day qualifying, Dallenbach said, shaking his head. "We didn't do anything except roll the car through inspection. It baffles me."
Robin Dallenbach, Wally's wife, had an explanation.
"It's because I gave him my good luck kiss," she said.
Whatever it was, Dallenbach went from a lap of 186.307 mph Friday, which was 45th quickest, to a lap of 188.846 mph Saturday, which moved him to 35th in the 42-car field.
The two provisional starting spots went to Bobby Labonte and Kirk Shelmerdine, making his Winston Cup debut in Jimmy Means' Ford. The only regular who failed to qualify was rookie Ward Burton, who will miss his fourth race of 1994.
After his miserable Friday qualifying run, Dallenbach said he came out and ran better than 190 mph in Saturday's morning practice. He slowed again during his qualifying run.
"Every time we go through tech [inspection], we slow down a half-second or better," he said. "I felt pretty confident we'd get in. But it does make it tough to qualify when you know you can't mess up."
Dallenbach has missed three races this season, but Talladega is one of his favorite tracks. "This is bad when you're getting close at Talladega," he said.
Meanwhile, Jeff Gordon will get his first taste of life at the back of the field, just barely making the race on his own in 40th. Gordon, in his second year of Winston Cup racing, has never had to use a provisional spot to make a race.
"It was kind of a matter of pride," said Ray Evernham, Gordon's crew chief. "We wanted to do it on our own, since we've never used a provisional and never had to use one in our rookie season. Yeah, it created a lot of tension."
Evernham said the Chevy Gordon is driving this weekend is the same one he drove to a third-place finish in his Twin 125 qualifying race in February at Daytona and to a fourth-place finish in the Daytona 500.
But Evernham has no idea why the car is so slow here. "That's probably the hardest part of it," he said.
Those who failed to qualify, in order of finish, were Ritchie Petty, Jim Sauter, Rich Bickle, Jimmy Horton, Ronnie Sanders, Burton and Delma Cowart.
"That's two races we missed by one spot," said Maurice Petty, owner of his son Ritchie's car. The low-budget team also missed making the Daytona 500 by a single position.
\ MORE ROOF FLAPS: NASCAR has announced the new roof flaps introduced at Daytona in February will be used in all races at tracks a mile or longer, not including the road courses, beginning Aug. 1.
When a car spins, the flaps are designed to pop out of the roof to help slow the car and keep it from flipping. So far, no cars with flaps have flipped.
Gary Nelson, the Winston Cup director, said NASCAR is waiting until Aug. 1 to put the rule in effect to give the manufacturer, Roush Industries, time to build enough flaps and to give teams time to install them.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB