THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 30, 1995 TAG: 9506300613
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 65 lines
After taking a vacation in the Bahamas to work out the kinks left from his Michigan crash, Dale Earnhardt came back to work and burned up a hot track Thursday at Daytona International Speedway to win the Pepsi 400 pole position.
Earnhardt was easily the fastest in practice, and he backed it up when it counted, reaching 191.355 miles per hour in his Richard Childress Chevrolet Monte Carlo to win his second pole of 1995.
Daytona 500 champion Sterling Marlin was second fastest at 190.718 mph in his Chevy as the dominant Monte Carlos took the first five starting spots for Saturday's race.
``Today we had a very easy practice time,'' Earnhardt said. ``We ran about six hard laps the whole morning, then blocked off (the radiator ducts) and went to qualify. The crew knew what kind of trim they needed before today.''
That's because the Childress team practiced last month with Dave Marcis behind the wheel. The reward for Marcis? He's using a Childress engine this weekend.
``This is the car we wrecked at Talladega,'' Earnhardt said. ``Marcis tested the car, and they just basically fine-tuned and balanced the car out. But I wasn't sure how fast I could run. I never did run a qualifying lap because (the team) knew what they could do with (the car) from the test.''
When we last saw Earnhardt, he was bruised and hobbling from a hard crash in the first turn wall at Michigan on June 18.
He flew to the Bahamas immediately afterwards and recuperated on his 50-foot Hatteras yacht while cruising to Treasure Key and Marsh Harbor.
``It was about three days before I could get off the floor of the boat,'' he said. ``I couldn't get out of bed. I rolled out of bed. My shoulders and back and neck were in bad shape. I bruised my esophagus pretty bad.''
Jeff Gordon was third fastest behind Earnhardt and Marlin as the top three in Winston Cup points captured the top three starting spots for the 400. Gordon's speed was 190.630 mph.
Behind Gordon were Chevy drivers Bobby Labonte and Robert Pressley. Labonte reached 190.517 mph, while Pressley was at 190.508 mph.
Todd Bodine had the fastest Ford Thunderbird, qualifying sixth at 190.118 mph. Dale Jarett was seventh in a Ford at 190.078 mph, followed by Michael Waltrip in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 189.817, Darrell Waltrip in a Chevy at 189.773 mph and Mark Martin in a Ford at 189.713 mph.
At the other end of the lineup, Terry Labonte was only 31st fastest, John Andretti was 33rd, Hut Stricklin was slowed to 38th by mechanical problems, Bill Elliott was 39th and Bobby Hamilton was 41st.
The 400 field will be the fastest 38 cars, plus four provisional starters. Forty-six cars made qualifying runs, so several drivers will be going home early after the second round of time trials at 1 p.m. today.
Besides Stricklin, Elliott and Hamilton, others outside the top 38 were Chuck Bown (40th), Ward Burton (42nd), Steve Seligman (43rd), Kenny Wallace (44th), Jeremy Mayfield (45th) and Delma Cowart.
The heat, as always, will be a factor, but Earnhardt, for one, won't be using a so-called `cool suit' or `cool helmet' for relief.
``Some of the guys still have those funny things,'' he said. ``We have an air duct. (Crew chief) Andy (Petree) don't like me to run it open because it slows the car down. But I bet I have it open Saturday.''
The race begins at 11 a.m. by CNB