ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, March 30, 1996 TAG: 9604010125
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
Mark Martin crushed the competition Friday in qualifying for the Food City 500 at Bristol International Raceway, but he says he'll be lucky to be in the ballgame come race day Sunday.
Even though Bristol is a short track, the problem is aerodynamics, Martin said after winning the top starting spot with a lap of 123.578 mph in his Ford Thunderbird.
``We are dealing with a situation of a pretty huge downforce difference between the Chevrolet Monte Carlo and the Ford,'' he said. ``Especially here, because of the spoiler sizes.'' [They're the same for all three makes at the short tracks]. ``So we're at a greater disadvantage here than we were in the last couple of weeks as far as aerodynamics goes. When you have less downforce, that means tires wear faster and it's harder and harder and harder to keep up.
``We did have some 120-lap green sessions late in the race last year and basically it cost us a shot at the win'' because of tire wear.
But, as Martin showed, there was no disadvantage during qualifying, when all the cars had new tires.
Martin's qualifying time of 15.527 seconds around this half-mile, high-banked oval was almost a full tenth of a second faster than Terry Labonte, who reached 122.921 mph (15.610 seconds) in his Chevy. By contrast, the next 11 cars were within a tenth of a second of Labonte's time.
Veteran Darrell Waltrip was third at 122.787 mph in a Chevy, followed by Sterling Marlin (122.709) and Bobby Labonte (122.584) in Chevys. Also in the top 10 were Mike Skinner in a Richard Childress Chevy at 122.584, Dale Jarrett in a Ford at 122.552, Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 122.396, Ricky Rudd in a Ford at 122.388 and Kenny Wallace in a Ford at 122.294.
Martin said there was nothing special about his qualifying lap. ``We pretty much stuck with what we had [in the past here] and it stuck to the track right out of the box today,'' he said.
Dale Jarrett was the session's biggest casualty, crashing hard in his Ford on his second lap after capturing the seventh starting spot on his first lap.
Jarrett lost control at the finish line and plowed head-on into the inside wall. His car then slid up the first turn.
``The driver got stupid and lost it coming out of [turn] four,'' Jarrett said. ``I thought I could drive it past the line and be okay. But it came around and I was just trying to miss the end of pit wall, but I didn't do that either. I really didn't accomplish anything that I went out there to do.''
Jarrett will have to start Sunday's race in a back-up car, which means he'll start in the back of the field.
Meanwhile, in qualifying for today's Goody's 250 Grand National race, slumping Chad Little captured the top starting spot with a speed of 121.198 mph. Michael Waltrip was second fastest at 121.152, followed by Larry Pearson (120.999), Jeff Green (120.839), and Jimmy Spencer (120.740).
``When you're in a valley, it's sometimes tough to get out,'' said Little, whose poor 1996 start included a hard crash at Darlington last weekend. ``This means a lot for all of us. It's needed right now.''
As usual for 1996, a huge contingent of Grand National drivers headed home early. Among the non-qualifiers were Dennis Setzer, Johnny Rumley, Stevie Reeves, Doug Heveron, Mike Dillon, Buckshot Jones and Tracy Leslie.
In Winston Cup, rookie Johnny Benson was among the drivers in danger of failing to make the race.
LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB