THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 17, 1995 TAG: 9506170488
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Medium: 73 lines
In the little car that grew, Jeff Gordon won the top starting spot Friday for Sunday's Miller 400 at Michigan International Speedway.
Gordon's seventh pole-winning run of the season - accomplished at a record speed of 186.611 miles per hour - ended in controversy when his Chevrolet Monte had trouble making it through inspection.
When the car was rolled through NASCAR's inspection station, the gauge that inspectors use to measure the height of the car registered in the red zone, which meant the car was too low - reportedly a quarter inch too low.
Inspectors rolled the car out of the inspection station and summoned Winston Cup director Gary Nelson, who told the inspectors to measure it again.
``We rolled it through (the first time) and some red showed,'' NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said. ``We gave it time to see if it was legal and then we rolled it back through and measured it again and it was legal.''
Triplett theorized that the car had sunk below the acceptable height after Gordon's run because Gordon and reporters trying to interview him leaned on the car.
``He leaned on the car talking to people. And there were 15 people hanging on that car,'' Triplett said.
The only way for the car to become legal after it measured too low was for it to rise back up to its proper height. Triplett said that's what happened. And that's why inspectors let it sit a few minutes after it failed the first height test.
Despite the controversy, Gordon's pole was not a big surprise. He had the fastest car in practice again Friday and he's running away with the season-long pole competition. No other driver has won more than one pole this year.
``It was a good lap,'' Gordon said. ``It wasn't the big, banzai, slide 'em sideways lap. I didn't want to do that.
``A lot of guys who went before us, they had to go out and give it everything they had. I think they almost overdrove the cars.
``I really expected (Ted) Musgrave to go faster and Bobby Labonte to go faster, but when they ran those laps and they didn't do awesome laps, that took a lot of pressure off us.
``All we needed to do was drive a good, consistent lap.''
Gordon's speed was more than five miles per hour faster than the old track record of 181.082 mph, set by Geoff Bodine last August. Thirty other drivers also broke the record on the new asphalt surface around this two-mile oval.
Ricky Rudd was second fastest in a Ford Thunderbird at 185.152 mph, followed by Sterling Marlin in a Chevy at 184.615 mph, Mark Martin in a Ford at 184.507 mph and Rusty Wallace in a Ford at 184.422 mph.
Musgrave was sixth fastest at 184.379 mph in a Ford, followed by Dale Earnhardt in a Chevy at 184.327 mph, Dick Trickle in a Ford at 184.322 mph, Jeremy Mayfield in a Ford at 184.030 mph and Lake Speed in a Ford at 183.993 mph.
Although there were concerns that the heat - the temperature reached 90 degrees - might cause the new surface to break and crumble, ``It wasn't a problem,'' Gordon said.
``It's pretty slick if you get out of the groove,'' he said. ``Other than that, they've done an excellent job.''
Ironically, Geoff Bodine was one of the few drivers who didn't break his own record. Bodine was 34th fastest at 180.587 mph.
Others who failed to make the top 20 included Dale Jarrett (23rd), Bill Elliott (25th), Ken Schrader (27th), John Andretti (29th), and Elton Sawyer (41st).
They'll have another chance to try to improve on their speeds during the second round of time trials at 11 a.m. today. by CNB