ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, July 27, 1996 TAG: 9607290039
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
JEREMY MAYFIELD'S first Winston Cup pole couldn't have come at a better time for the struggling driver.
Jeremy Mayfield recently joined the club of drivers rumored to be in trouble with their car owners. He took the next step Friday at Talladega Superspeedway.
By winning the pole for Sunday's DieHard 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race, Mayfield became the latest member of the club to dig himself out of trouble.
Mayfield won the first Winston Cup pole of his career with a lap of 192.370 mph around this 2.66-mile high-banked track in his Cale Yarborough-owned Ford Thunderbird.
``I'm just amazed for once that everything went our way,'' Mayfield said. ``This is the first time any big thing has really happened in my career, as far as Winston Cup goes. I don't know what to say. I'm kind of in awe right now.''
``I probably had more attention today when I got out of my car than all the other races put together.''
Jeff Gordon joined Mayfield on the front row, qualifying his Chevrolet Monte Carlo with a lap of 191.417 mph. Gordon was followed by Dale Jarrett in a Ford (191.088). Dale Earnhardt was fourth fastest (190.806) in a Chevy, followed by Lake Speed in a Ford (190.522).
Completing the top 10 were Ford drivers Ernie Irvan (190.412), Jeff Burton (190.321) and Mark Martin (189.959), followed by Chevy driver Darrell Waltrip (189.913) and Johnny Benson (189.748) in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix.
Mayfield, 27, is in his third year in the Winston Cup series. This is his first year driving for Yarborough.
Until Friday, the rumor mill had Mayfield pegged as one driver who probably wouldn't be returning to the same car in 1997.
``At this time, there's not really a lot to address,'' Mayfield said. ``You know how this time of year there are a lot of rumors flying around. Things might be different next year. I don't know at this time.
``Things are really going good here. I'm real happy with the team. My focus right now is to stay with Cale Yarborough Motorsports at least for the rest of the year. I've just got to keep focus on the way things are going and not worry about next year.''
Yarborough was not at the track Friday, and at the time of the pole winner's interview, Mayfield said he hadn't yet spoken to him.
Mayfield's breakthrough was not entirely unexpected at this superspeedway. He had been quick at Daytona in February and had qualified third for the race here in April. He had the fastest car in practice Friday.
His pole-winning lap came on his first trip around the track. Mayfield had the option of taking a second lap, but he shut off his motor on the backstretch.
``The motor got hot,'' he said. ``I knew it wasn't going to make a second lap. We had a lot of tape on the grille. We put more tape on than we normally do.''
After the first lap, the temperature had risen to a dangerously hot 250 or 260 degrees, so Mayfield's team told him to shut it down.
``That's our race motor,'' he said. ``That's the only motor we've got. I'm sure it would have damaged the motor if we'd taken another lap. We couldn't take a chance and tear up the motor that we wanted to run Sunday.''
Mayfield said the team used the same engine for qualifying and the race because ``it's hard to get a really good restrictor-plate motor, especially for a team that doesn't have a lot of resources. We know this motor is four or five horsepower better than the last one we had here.''
At the other end of the lineup, Gary Bradberry left himself in the 38th starting spot and will be on the bubble during today's second round of time trials. Bradberry, who is not eligible for a provisional starting spot, is trying to make his first race at Talladega, which is near his hometown of Chelsea.
Behind Bradberry, in order of their speeds, are Geoff Bodine, Brett Bodine, Joe Nemechek, Chad Little and Bill Elliott. Little also does not have a provisional starting spot.
And Nemechek, should he choose to requalify, will not have the same car.
On his second lap, Nemechek blew a right rear tire and hit the outside wall in turn 3.
``The right rear did a big boom when it went in the corner and around she went,'' Nemechek said. ``I just kind of went along for the ride.''
The second round of qualifying is scheduled for 11:45 a.m. today.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB