Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507240056
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium
Sterling Marlin was leading another Chevy speed parade Friday in qualifying for Sunday's DieHard 500 when a major thunderstorm ended the day's activities.
Marlin, the Daytona 500 winner, was the only driver to exceed 194 mph at Talladega Superspeedway, reaching 194.212 mph in his Chevy Monte Carlo. Chevys had the top five qualifying times with a dozen drivers left to run.
``We need to win a pole and get in that dash for cash [the Busch Clash] next year at Daytona,'' Marlin said. ``The weather cooled down and everybody speeded up.''
It's a good bet Marlin will keep the pole, because none of the 12 drivers left to qualify has won a NASCAR Winston Cup pole this year. More significantly, those drivers likely will have to run on a much hotter track than many of the competitors had Friday. It was overcast during much of the first round and the heat dissipated as the storm approached.
At one point just before a torrential downpour abruptly ended the session, lightning had the track surrounded. It was striking behind the tri-oval, outside the first turn and near the backstretch.
Bobby Labonte was second fastest before the rain hit, reaching 193.799 mph in his Chevy. He was followed by Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt, also in Chevys. Gordon was at 193.740 mph, Schrader's lap was 193.658 and Earnhardt was at 193.650.
Earnhardt and Gordon had problems before coming through in the clutch in qualifying.
``That was a great lap for this team,'' Gordon said. ``We made a pretty crucial call this morning. We changed motors. We just weren't getting it done out there. This motor picked us up quite a bit, obviously.''
Said Earnhardt, ``We're pretty excited just to get out there and qualify after the problems we've had. We weren't sure we were going to have a car to run. We had to change engines this morning. We changed ignitions and everything and went out there and ran pretty good.''
Ricky Rudd has the fastest Ford thus far. He was sixth, at 193.525 mph, followed by Michael Waltrip (193.478) in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix.
Darrell Waltrip (193.433) was eighth fastest in a Chevy, followed by Mark Martin (193.181), who won the May race here in a Ford. Dale Jarrett (193.135) was 10th fastest.
Those who didn't qualify Friday will return to the track today at 8 a.m. to try to get into the field before the second round of qualifying begins at 10:45 a.m.
by CNB