ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, November 9, 1996 TAG: 9611110109
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
HE CAPTURES the NAPA 500 pole for his second consecutive and fourth in seven races.
The in-house engine program at Joe Gibbs Racing has breathed new life into the Chevrolet Monte Carlo driven by Bobby Labonte, at least in Winston Cup qualifying.
Labonte won his fourth pole position in seven races - and his second in a row - with a track record lap of 185.887 mph at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
In qualifying for Sunday's NAPA 500, Labonte was the only driver to break the record of 185.830 mph set two years ago by Greg Sacks.
``We've qualified good here before, just never on the pole,'' said Labonte. ``The car handled really good. It never got loose. I've been at places qualifying this year where I was scared to death. But that was probably the smoothest lap I've ever run here at Atlanta.
``I guess it was to the point that it didn't feel as fast as it did earlier [in practice], but this is one of those deals where slow is faster. It feels slow, but slow is faster.''
Labonte, who ran late in the qualifying session, knocked Jeff Gordon out of a chance to win his sixth pole of the year. Gordon will start in second after running a lap of 185.290 mph in his Chevy.
Winston Cup points leader Terry Labonte, who is aiming to clinch his second championship in Sunday's season finale, was third fastest in a Chevy at 184.559 mph.
``Actually, we were a little quicker than that in practice,'' Labonte said. ``I knew it wouldn't hold up for the pole, but I was a little surprised it held up for third.''
Mark Martin qualified fourth in the fastest Ford at 184.528 mph, followed by Dale Jarrett in another Ford at 184.131. Ernie Irvan was sixth in a Ford at 184.020, followed by Todd Bodine in a Chevy at 183.866 mph, Sacks in a Pontiac at 183.761, Bobby Hamilton in a Pontiac at 183.410 and Chad Little in another Pontiac at 183.373.
Bobby Labonte, who has moved from 17th to 12th in Winston Cup points since the Brickyard 400, won his first pole of the season in Septembr at at Dover, Del. He won his second at Charlotte last month and won at Phoenix two weeks ago. He also captured the top starting spot for last weekend's Busch Grand National finale at Homestead in Florida. He finished second in that race.
Labonte said the in-house engine program that Gibbs established this year, directed by veteran engine builder John Wilson, ``really has come a long way. At Daytona, we had to borrow an engine from Richard Childress to make the race. That hurt us because we didn't want to do that at all.
``We just now got to the point where we're caught up on some stuff. Many nights, you can call there at 3 a.m. and they're still there. I can't say enough about how much headway they've made in the past three races, not just on our race engines, but on our qualifying engines.''
Forty-eight cars made qualifying laps Friday for the 38 regular starting positions and up to five provisional starting spots. The second round of qualifying is at 11 a.m. today.
LENGTH: Medium: 64 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Bobby Labonte set a track record with a qualifyingby CNBlap of 185.887 mph on Friday for Sunday's NAPA 500 in Atlanta. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING