ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609170016
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL.
SOURCE: Associated Press
BOBBY LABONTE captures his first pole of the season for the $1.4 million MBNA 500.
Bobby Labonte went a little slower than he had hoped, but so did the rest of the field as the warmth of the afternoon sun spoiled management's hope for the fastest lap ever at Dover Downs International Speedway.
Labonte qualified his Chevrolet on Friday at 155.086 mph to win the pole for Sunday's running of the $1.4 million MBNA 500. That easily broke the record of 154.784, set last spring by Jeff Gordon.
Dover Downs had predicted that another mark - Bobby Unser's 1969 speed of 155.561 - would fall. But that run, established in qualifying for the only Indy-car race ever at the Monster Mile, remains the track standard.
``The sun came out, but it was a good lap,'' said Labonte, who collected the fourth pole of his Winston Cup career.
He was among those who had run faster speeds in practice, before the sun broke through the clouds and made the treacherous oval slower.
Labonte hopes his first pole of the year will translate into his first victory. The 32-year-old Texan won three times in 1995, his breakthrough season on the Winston Cup circuit.
``We haven't been contending for a win, so maybe this is our week,'' he said. ``But we've had some good races lately.''
A qualifying session that was supposed to be a battle among defending race and Winston Cup champion Gordon, Labonte's points-leading brother Terry and Ernie Irvan, produced another surprise up front. Rick Mast put his Pontiac on the outside of the front row with a lap of 154.328.
After that, order was restored, with Hendrick Motorsports teammates Gordon and Terry Labonte taking the second row in their Chevys.
Gordon, hoping to become just the third driver to win three straight Dover races, was third at 154.011. Terry Labonte, leading his teammate by just four points in the lucrative Winston Cup title race, was next at 153.840.
``I hit the apron and didn't mess it up like I usually do,'' Bobby Labonte said of his run. ``The car worked good, and that made my job easier.''
Labonte said the car is the one he drove to a sixth-place finish at Darlington, not the one he had originally chosen but wrecked in August at Bristol. But it made no difference.
``It felt good coming off the truck, and only got better in practice, so we felt good about it,'' Labonte said. ``Then the sun came out, but it was the same for everybody.''
Mast was angry with himself for tinkering too much with his car.
``I just screwed up,'' he said. ``It drove like a Cadillac.
``It was real quick in the first practice, and then in the second practice the car got a little loose. I tightened it up to qualify, and I should have left the thing alone.''
Gordon, who also was hoping to become the second driver to win both Dover races from the pole in the same season, was satisfied despite not making the front row.
``I'd like to lead some more laps Sunday,'' he said. ``But there's only one lap that's really important to lead - the last one.''
The top of the qualifying lineup that set positions 1-25 - 26-41 will be filled today - was a strange mixture. After the three Chevys and Mast's Pontiac, the next seven cars on the grid were Fords.
Geoff Bodine will go fifth in the first Ford, followed by Rusty Wallace, Dick Trickle, Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, John Andretti and Hut Stricklin.
LENGTH: Medium: 71 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Bobby Labonte shares a laugh with his pit crew afterby CNBhis record-setting lap at Dover on Friday. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING