Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, February 12, 1995 TAG: 9502130049
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Long
At the end of a long afternoon Saturday, qualifying for the Daytona 500 hinged on a couple of laps by one driver - Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.
Dale Jarrett had posted the fastest speed in his Ford Thunderbird at Daytona International Speedway, but as the sun dipped in the southwestern sky, Earnhardt, who had drawn the last spot in the qualifying lineup, found himself with a cooler, faster track for his new Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
As Jarrett sweated it out in his team's trailer, Earnhardt fell short by five-hundredths of a mile per hour.
Jarrett won the pole for NASCAR's biggest race with a lap of 193.494 mph. Earnhardt came in at 193.449 mph. On the stopwatch, the difference was one-hundredth of a second. It was the first Winston Cup pole of Jarrett's career.
``The two shops are totally different, the two cars are totally different and it all comes down to a hundredth of a second,'' said Earnhardt's car owner, Richard Childress.
``To win your first one here at Daytona feels great,'' Jarrett said. ``My job basically was to get it up to speed pretty quickly. We were able to do that and weather the storm with those Monte Carlos coming in late and with it cooling off quite a bit and the wind dying down. We were pretty nervous there at the end because we knew that Earnhardt hadn't shown his hand all week. And we didn't know how much he had left.''
Earnhardt actually was three-hundredths of a second faster on his first lap than Jarrett was on his. But on that crucial final qualifying lap, as the engine in his black Chevy wound up to full song, Earnhardt was slower.
On that second lap, as Earnhardt entered the first turn of this 2.5-mile speedway, he was a mile per hour quicker than Jarrett - 193-192. Out of the second turn, Earnhardt was faster, hitting 197 mph to Jarrett's 195. But at the end of the backstretch, where Jarrett reached 198 mph, Earnhardt was only at 195 mph. He picked it up again coming out of turn 4, reaching 185 mph where Jarrett had been 184 mph.
So it wasn't settled until the final split-second at the finish line.
``I didn't know what was going on with the speeds,'' Earnhardt said. ``I was just trying to drive as smooth a lap as I could. I felt like my second lap was the better lap. The car felt smoother.
``We never really thought we could run quite that fast,'' Earnhardt said. ``We hadn't run quite that fast in practice. But I think we had a better opportunity than most. It was getting cooler, so you felt like your chances were better and better.''
Jarrett won the 1993 Daytona 500, but he said he's never been more confident coming into the season's first race than he is this year.
``I knew in 1993 that we had a good race car, but it was going to take everything we had to get it done,'' Jarrett said. ``We know we have a fast car, we just have to get it fast driving here. But I think that's going to happen.''
Jarrett is the third different driver in Yates' Ford in the past three years. Davey Allison drove in the 1993 race, but was killed in a helicopter crash later that year. Ernie Irvan was the 1994 driver until he nearly was killed in a crash during practice at Michigan in August. Jarrett has the ride for 1995 while Irvan continues to recover.
``I really wanted to [win the pole] for the team as much as myself or anybody else,'' Jarrett said. ``This team has been through a lot of adversity.''
As is the custom here, the time trials established only the top two starting positions - the first row - for the 500. The third through 30th starting positions will be determined by the finishing order of the Twin 125 qualifying races Thursday. Positions 31 through 38 will be determined by qualifying speeds and the final four positions are provisional starting spots.
But below Jarrett and Earnhardt, the cars that were quick Saturday generally were the same cars that were quick in January testing and in Friday's practice.
Defending race champion Sterling Marlin was third fastest at 193.349 mph, followed by Robert Pressley at 193.050 mph and Terry Labonte at 192.872 mph, all driving Chevys. Also in the top 10 were Bobby Labonte at 192.550 mph in a Chevy, Michael Waltrip at 192.152 mph in a Pontiac, Lake Speed at 192.020 mph in a Ford, Darrell Waltrip at 191.947 mph in a Chevy and Phil Parsons at 191.824 mph in a Ford.
Among other drivers, Jeff Gordon was 14th fastest, Rusty Wallace was 15th and Mark Martin was 16th. Bill Elliott was 20th, Ricky Rudd was 22nd and Geoff Bodine was 34th.
And those who were struggling included Jimmy Spencer (38th), Ward Burton (40th), Joe Nemechek (43rd), Steve Kinser (46th) and Rockbridge Baths' Rick Mast, who was 55th among 57 cars that made qualifying runs after his car lost power during his run.
by CNB