THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 25, 1995 TAG: 9505250639
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines
Picking up where he left off Saturday in The Winston Select, Jeff Gordon blistered Charlotte Motor Speedway on Wednesday night to win the pole for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600.
Gordon toured the 1.5-mile tri-oval at 183.861 mph, breaking his own qualifying record for the event, set a year ago, but falling shy of Ward Burton's track record of of 185.759 mph, set last fall.
The more significant comparisons, however, were that Gordon was more than 1 mph faster than Bobby Labonte, who won the outside pole at 182.741 mph, and nearly 1.5 mph faster than Ricky Craven, who was third-fastest at 182.285.
This does not bode well for twilight excitement Sunday. The Charlotte track tends to accentuate the differences in cars, which leads to runaways.
``That was really a good lap,'' said Gordon, the defending champion of the 600. ``I drove that thing about as hard as you could down into turn one. One and two is really where I won the pole. We were a rocket through one and two.
``I drove in real deep and it stuck. I jumped right back in (the throttle) harder than I did all day long in practice. That's the chance you've got to take. You've got to take it right to the edge.''
Brett Bodine, in the fastest Ford, was fourth-fastest at 181.941 mph, followed by Michael Waltrip in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 181.622 mph. Completing the top 10 were Ken Schrader (181.519), Sterling Marlin (181.421), Chesapeake native Elton Sawyer (180.935), Joe Nemechek (180.862) and Morgan Shepherd (180.844).
Pole qualifying for the 600 begins in late-evening sunshine (it starts at 7 p.m.) and ends after dark, so the drivers who have to run early are at a disadvantage with a hotter, slower track. But there was no real pattern to the times.
Gordon, for instance, ran about halfway through the session. And Dale Earnhardt, the second-to-last driver to attempt to qualify, was 34th-fastest.
He was having the same problem he had in The Winston Select.
``I about wrecked, really,'' he said. ``We had the luck of the draw and everything. We just got loose and I couldn't use the throttle.''
The second round of qualifying has been moved from the heat of the day to 6 p.m., so drivers at the back of the pack have a better chance to improve on their speeds.
PIECE OF THE ROCK: With Charlotte Motor Speedway owner Bruton Smith exerting his influence as a minority stockholder, the primary owners of North Carolina Motor Speedway have sold stock to Roger Penske and are looking to him for advice and assistance.
Jo DeWitt Wilson, president and chief executive officer of Rockingham track, announced Wednesday that Penske Speedway Inc. had acquired a minority interest in the facility.
Chris Browning, the Rock's general manager, said he could not reveal how much stock was sold to Penske. But Smith said in a release that Penske bought about 50,000 shares. Smith owns about 532,000 shares, or about 24 percent.
Smith's release also welcomed Penske's participation. ``I'm pleased Roger bought shares of Rockingham because it shows confidence in what we are doing there,'' it said.
Smith has said he purchased a minority interest in the Rock because it is a good investment. But considering that Smith is building a new speedway in Texas and the Winston Cup schedule is all but full, there has been speculation that if he could wrest control of the Rock, he might want to move one of its two races to Texas.
PONTIAC CHANGES: There was mixed reaction from Pontiac drivers concerning NASCAR rule changes announced Tuesday, but they seemed happy to take anything they could get.
The changes allowed the Pontiacs to lower their front ends and raise the height of their rear spoilers. The changes are designed to improve the Pontiacs' downforce, thus increasing speeds.
Pontiacs now have an air-dam clearance of 3 1/2 inches and a spoiler height of 6 1/4 inches. For Fords those specifications are 3 3/4 inches and 6 inches, and for Chevrolets they will be 4 inches and 5 3/4 inches.
``It's hard to say how much the rule changes will help us,'' Bobby Hamilton said. ``As far as the overall picture for Pontiac, it will probably be a plus. I think finally somebody said, `Hey, there's somebody being left out in leftfield while you're worried about two car makes (Ford and Chevy).' It didn't seem they were worried about us.''
But Michael Waltrip said, ``We're racing in a different league. We certainly appreciate what NASCAR has done to try to help us. But we look forward to when we get something better to do battle with.''
Pontiac will introduce a new Grand Prix for the Winston Cup series in 1996.
FOAM CONFISCATED: NASCAR inspectors were particularly thorough in their pre-practice inspections Wednesday, but the only things they found were foam inserts that had been improperly altered before being put inside the fuel tanks.
The foam inserts are designed to prevent fuel from sloshing around inside the tank. But teams frequently drill holes in the foam, allowing slightly more fuel in the tank.
The cars of Rick Mast, Hut Stricklin and Jeff Burton had altered foam inserts. NASCAR did not levy any fines. by CNB