THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 11, 1995 TAG: 9503110419
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
From the moment practice started at 9 a.m. Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the word went through the garage - the Chevys had 'em covered.
A cluster of Chevrolet Monte Carlo drivers, led by champion Dale Earnhardt, proved it a few hours later, capturing the top five starting positions in Sunday's Purolator 500, with Earnhardt setting an event record of 185.077 mph.
Earnhardt's speed fell short of the track record of 185.830 mph set by Greg Sacks last fall, but it nonetheless showed that NASCAR's efforts to reduce the speeds here with spoiler and air dam changes had minimal impact.
``For whatever reason, I don't know, they want to slow down,'' Earnhardt said of NASCAR. ``This is a race. We're down here to race. They built this race track to go through the corners fast and if they don't want them to go that fast through the corners, then have 'em drive down the straight and turn left and turn left like on a road course.''
And for that matter, he wants NASCAR to leave the Fords alone, despite the apparent Chevy dominance.
``I don't see a problem there,'' he said. ``Once the race gets started, you'll see more of a blend of Fords and Chevys up front.''
But for the start of Sunday's race, the closest a Ford will be to the front is the outside of the third row, which Ricky Rudd secured after having the sixth-fastest qualifying run at 183.644 mph.
``We won our class,'' Rudd said.
Earnhardt, actually, just barely won the pole. Surging Bobby Labonte's lap of 185.046 mph was less than a tenth of a mile per hour slower.
``I know where I could have got a little more out of it,'' Labonte told Chevy's Ray Cooper.
But Earnhardt said he had a little speed left, too.
``I just felt like the track was loosening up a little bit and I was a little careful getting into (turn) one. And I didn't run as deep as I could have in three. We was carefully comfortable.''
Jeff Gordon was third-fastest at 184.454 mph, followed by Darrell Waltrip at 184.311 mph and last Sunday's winner, Terry Labonte, at 183.718 mph.
Starting behind Rudd in sixth will be Sterling Marlin in another Chevy at 183.625 mph, Derrike Cope in a Ford at 183.570 mph, Bobby Hamilton in the fastest Pontiac at 183.509 mph and Dick Trickle in a Ford at 183.466 mph.
EL FOLDO: Mike Wallace dominated the Jiffy Lube 300 ARCA race Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, but he gave up the lead to Jimmy Horton late in the race and never got it back.
Horton, driving Ken Schrader's Chevrolet beat Wallace to the finish line by about three car lengths after a stirring 12-lap sprint to the checkered flag.
``I figured I'd let him use his tires up trying to catch me and go from there,'' Horton said.
Schrader's car also won the Daytona race, with Andy Hillenburg behind the wheel. Horton spotted for Hillenburg in that race.
``It's a lot more fun'' driving, Horton said. ``I would have given that spotter's job up in a heartbeat. But Andy did a good job and brought the car home in winner's circle. Now it's my turn.''
MOISE IS THE FASTEST: A woman who has never run at Atlanta was the fastest qualifier for today's Busch Light 300 Grand National race, but she will be starting 26th.
Patty Moise was one day late with her qualifying speed of 176.652 mph in a Ford. It came in the second round of Grand National time trials Friday and set a track record for Busch cars.
Even though Moise's lap was faster than Mark Martin's Thursday pole winning speed of 176.623 mph, she will start 26th because that's where the fastest second-round qualifier starts for this race, no matter how fast the lap is.
``I just feel really good,'' Moise said. ``We haven't ever been here or raced here before.''
Jeff Green was the most notable of the 11 drivers who failed to make the race. Green, who drives Dale Earnhardt's car, wasn't fast enough to qualify Thursday, and he failed to make a lap Friday after his team discovered a problem with the oil pump. by CNB