ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 15, 1996 TAG: 9606180023
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
JEFF GORDON is the top qualifier for the third consecutive week, but Dale Jarrett will have a tough time making the field after a crash.
He's still got a couple of races to go, but Jeff Gordon zoomed past the halfway point toward tying the NASCAR Winston Cup record for consecutive pole positions with his third straight Friday at Pocono International Raceway.
It was a different story for Dale Jarrett, who broke a rib and suffered a slight fracture of his right leg in a crash in the third turn during the warmup lap for his qualifying run. Jarrett plans to re-qualify today despite the injuries.
Gordon won the top starting spot for Sunday's UAW-GM 500 with a lap of 169.725 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
Jarrett spun and hit the wall hard with the left-front and left-rear quarter panels of his car. He walked away from the crash, but was taken to Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center for X-rays.
The No.4 driver in the Winston Cup points standings, Jarrett was found to have a broken sixth left rib and a slight fracture of the upper part of the right tibia just below the knee. But he was cleared to drive by Dr.William Krywicki, who treated Jarrett's leg injury.
Jarrett also reportedly had severe swelling of the right knee, but was to have that drained. He was released from the hospital shortly after 6 p.m. Friday and had every intention of driving today. He told team spokesman Randy Laney it was easier for him to sit in the car anyway, since he has to have crutches to walk and the left crutch hurts his broken rib.
Gordon's speed, meanwhile, demolished the Pocono track record. But with new pavement on this 2.5-mile tri-oval, it was a foregone conclusion the track record would fall.
The old track record here - 164.558 mph by Rusty Wallace in July 1994 - was broken by 37 of the 40 drivers who completed qualifying runs. On the stopwatch, Gordon's lap was about 1.6 seconds faster than the old mark.
If Gordon can win the pole positions at Michigan and Daytona, he'll have five straight. That would tie him with the record-holders, Cale Yarborough (1980) and Darrell Waltrip (1980 and 1981).
``I don't know if we're peaking too fast or not, but I certainly don't think so,'' said Gordon, the 1995 Winston Cup points champion. ``I believe we're starting to show we're an even better team than we were last year.''
Derrike Cope was a surprise winner of the outside pole with a speed of 169.208 mph in the first Ford Thunderbird his Bobby Allison-owned team has built from the ground up.
``The car is well-constructed, and it showed when they rolled it off the truck,'' said Cope, who tested here recently. ``What a debut! We're really excited about it.''
Hut Stricklin was third fastest, in a Ford that qualified at 169.173 mph, followed by Ricky Craven (168.941 mph) in a Chevy and Ken Schrader (168.675) in a Chevy.
Also in the top 10 were Mark Martin (168.669) in a Ford, Bobby Labonte (168.451) in a Chevy, Joe Nemechek (168.369) in a Chevy, Ricky Rudd (168.168) in a Ford and Dale Earnhardt (168.136), who was fastest in practice Friday, in his Chevy.
Gordon said he couldn't have done much better in his effort.
``I felt like it was a great lap,'' he said. ``I knew it was everything I could offer in that race car on the race track today, and it showed up on the clock.''
With the new pavement, Gordon said, ``you picked up speed everywhere.''
``The cars are riding smoother, even down the straightaways, and you can drive so deep in turn one, it's unbelievable,'' he said. ``Just when you think you've driven too far, the track grabs you and pulls you to the bottom.''
The second round of qualifying is 11:30 a.m. today. Jarrett will requalify, of course, as will Waltrip, who was unable to complete his run, apparently because of a loose spark-plug wire. But only 42 cars are here this weekend, so none of the regulars should have any trouble making the race.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP Jeff Gordon climbs from his car after winning theby CNBpole for the UAW-GM 500 at Pocono International Raceway in Long
Pond, Pa.| KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING