THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 12, 1995 TAG: 9508120176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium: 53 lines
Mark Martin will be running for his third straight victory at Sunday's Bud at the Glen from a familiar place - the pole position.
Martin won his third straight pole at Watkins Glen International Friday with a NASCAR track record speed of 120.411 mph in his Jack Roush-owned Ford Thunderbird.
``If I had tried any harder, I would have gone through a guard rail,'' Martin said. ``I didn't think I could beat Terry Labonte, and then (Bill) Elliott did his and it was pretty awesome. But it turned out OK.''
Elliott was second fastest at 120.332 mph in another Thunderbird as Fords took the front row, an unusual accomplishment in this season of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
``Sure, I'm disappointed we didn't get the pole as close as we were,'' Elliott said. ``But we've got nothing to be ashamed of, especially the way the second half of our season has been.''
Labonte was third-fastest in the quickest Chevy at 120.188 mph, followed by Rusty Wallace in a Ford at 120.082 mph. Jeff Gordon, winner of eight poles this season, was fifth fastest in a Chevy at 120.005 mph.
Michael Waltrip was sixth fastest in the quickest Pontiac Grand Prix, reaching 119.658 mph. Ricky Rudd was seventh in a Ford at 119.608 mph, followed by Kyle Petty in a Pontiac at 119.456 mph, Jeremy Mayfield in a Ford at 119.297 and Morgan Shepherd in a Ford at 119.276 mph.
All 10 fastest drivers along with the next three - Bobby Labonte, Wally Dallenbach (driving Bill Davis's No. 22 Pontiac) and Dale Jarrett - also beat Martin's previous record of 119.118 mph set in 1993. The faster speeds were attributed to the fact that this entire 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course has been repaved.
There wasn't anything special about Martin's run here Friday that he hasn't done in the past. He tested here this year, but confessed nothing more than ``what we were doing was all we could do.''
In fact, his car here this weekend is one of the oldest in the Roush fleet.
``This is the same car I had here in '90, '91, '92,'' he said. ``We built the car new in 1990 and we've run it ever since. We just make changes for whatever the track is requiring every year. It's an old car. This is car No. 17 and we're up to 50 now.''
Forty-three cars made qualifying runs Friday and only one driver, Darrell Waltrip, didn't finish. He broke his transmission.
A second round of time trials at 10:30 a.m. today will fill out the 38-car field, with up to five provisional starters being added after that. by CNB