Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, April 22, 1995 TAG: 9504260042
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: MARTINSVILLE LENGTH: Medium
Labonte's speed of 93.308 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo gave Joe Gibbs Racing its first pole position.
``We just got a really good lap in,'' Labonte said. ``I didn't hit the curb. We'd been looking for that [lap] all day and I did it in qualifying instead of practice. Sometimes you do it in practice and you don't do it in qualifying. Today it just happened to be the other way around.''
Labonte said his shoulder, which he broke in a crash at Darlington on March 26, ``is doing real well. When you're in the car, you don't hardly feel it. Out of the car, if I reach for something and don't think about it, it burns a bit.''
Labonte will be joined at the front of the Martinsville field by two other drivers who usually don't start there.
Rookie Robert Pressley, whose previous best starting position this year was ninth at Darlington, won the outside pole in a Chevy at 93.239 mph. Greg Sacks equaled Pressley's speed in a Pontiac Grand Prix, but will start third because Pressley's car owner, Leo Jackson, has more points than Sacks' car owner, Dick Brooks.
Darrell Waltrip qualified fourth in a Chevy at 93.221 mph, and Mark Martin was fifth in the fastest Ford Thunderbird at 93.194 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Bobby Hamilton, who circled the .526-mile oval at 93.116 mph in Richard Petty's Pontiac. Petty's son, Kyle, was seventh fastest in another Pontiac at 93.074 mph. Ricky Rudd qualified eighth in a Ford at 92.933 mph, while Elton Sawyer had a stunning qualifying run in his Winston Cup debut, qualifying ninth at 92.915 mph in a Ford. Dale Jarrett was 10th fastest in another Ford at 92.883 mph.
Among other drivers, Jeff Gordon qualified 12th, Bill Elliott was 14th, Rusty Wallace 15th and Dale Earnhardt 20th.
Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion, leads the points chase by 56 points over Sterling Marlin. Gordon is third.
Although there were showers in the morning, the skies cleared and the sun came out shortly before qualifying began. This seemed to be an advantage for those who qualified early. Labonte was the eighth of 43 drivers who made qualifying runs. Sawyer ran third. Petty was fourth, Waltrip 10th, Rudd 13th and Pressley 15th.
The sunshine, Labonte said, ``heated up the concrete a little bit and made [the tires] stick better, but it might have got a little too warm for some of those cars that went out later.''
But this wasn't universally true. The first driver on the track for time trials, Chuck Bown, was the slowest.
Sunday's field will have 32 qualfiers and four provisional starters. Those who are outside the fastest 32 are Dave Marcis, who was 33rd fastest, followed by Jeff Burton, Derrike Cope, Dick Trickle, Davy Jones, Mike Wallace, Ricky Craven, Todd Bodine, Jay Hedgecock, Jimmy Spencer and Bown.
Obviously, some good cars and drivers will be going home following the second round of time trials today at 12:15 p.m.
Qualifying at 11:30 this morning will set the field for today's Hanes 150 All Pro race at 2 p.m.
The Hanes 500 gets under way at noon Sunday and will be televised by ESPN.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB