Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 1, 1995 TAG: 9504030069
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
While Martin was busy describing his lap of 124.605 mph around this .533-mile high-banked oval, Terry Labonte, Rick Mast, Randy LaJoie and their teams were stewing because they never made it on the track.
NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said inspectors found that each of those teams had more than two degrees of camber in the rear ends of their cars, when a maximum of 1.8 degrees is allowed.
About 10 cars had the same problem, including those of Sterling Marlin, Jeff Gordon, John Andretti and Ted Musgrave. But all of the teams except those of Labonte, Mast and LaJoie were able to fix it in time to qualify.
Martin, the last driver to make the two-lap qualifying run, edged Jeff Gordon, who had held the top spot during much of the session with a lap of 124.444 mph.
``I just had to reach in deep,'' Martin said. ``We've been coming up short, so I just hung it out a little bit today. I'm not sure this is a good time to beat the Chevys, but we'll take what we can get.
``We knew the second lap was going to be faster for us. We went on sticker [new] tires and most people went out on scuffed tires. We knew we would sacrifice a little on the first lap and be as good or better than anybody on our second lap if we did it that way, and I didn't mess it up. We pulled it off.''
Kyle Petty qualified third in a Pontiac Grand Prix at 124.363 mph, followed by Derrike Cope in a Ford at 124.259 mph.
David Green, filling in for injured Bobby Labonte, had a stellar run for a relief driver with limited Winston Cup experience, qualifying fifth at 124.259 mph. (Results in Scoreboard. B4) Later, he won the pole for today's Goody's 250 Grand National race with a lap of 122.474 mph in Labonte's Chevrolet.
``I think what I learned in the Winston Cup car really set me sailing on the other side,'' Green said. ``I felt like I got out of a 747 into a Cessna. But I knew if I could keep the [Winston Cup] car decent for two laps, qualifying the Busch car might come a little easier.''
Ted Musgrave was sixth fastest in a Ford at 123.961 mph, followed by Ricky Craven in a Chevy at 123.833 mph, John Andretti and Rusty Wallace in Fords with the identical speed of 123.746 mph and Jeff Burton in a Ford at 123.698 mph.
Because Terry Labonte, Mast and LaJoie were unable to qualify Friday, they'll have to wait for the second round of time trials scheduled for 12:30 p.m. today.
Because so many cars had the camber problem, Mast thought the NASCAR scales might be slightly out of adjustment.
``You try and fudge as much as you can, and if you go across a set of scales that might be inclined differently, it makes everybody show more camber,'' he said.
LaJoie's car owner, Bill Davis, said he didn't understand why the problem suddenly cropped up Friday.
``It was the same rear end housing that was in the car and was just fine at Richmond,'' he said. ``And it was just fine at Phoenix last fall. We'll have to go in the second round and hope nothing goes wrong.''
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB