THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510220156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C2 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: ROCKINGHAM, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Sometimes good luck comes when a driver can least use it.
That would seem to be the case for Hut Stricklin, who on Saturday won the pole for today's AC Delco 400 at North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Now that Stricklin's team is disbanding and the assets are for sale, now that his crew chief has been forced to take a job with another team, now that Stricklin himself has another ride for 1996, he has found the biggest success of his Winston Cup career.
Stricklin won the top starting spot with a speed of 155.379 mph. And even though it might not have as much impact on his career as it would have had he done it three months ago, Stricklin's enthusiasm was unrestrained.
``I'm still trying to get over the excitement,'' Stricklin said. ``It really hasn't sunk in yet that we won the pole. I guess we're going to have to see it in a newspaper to believe it.''
Ernie Irvan, meanwhile, failed to make the field after a crash on his first practice lap prevented him from getting any practice time in before qualifying.
Irvan was behind Todd Bodine on his first full-speed lap around the 1-mile oval when a slower car, driven by Lake Speed, moved up the banking and Bodine hit the brakes. Irvan ran into Bodine and they collected Speed.
``The accident didn't do any damage to the suspension - just body damage - but when something like that happens in front of you, you just do the best you can,'' Irvan said. ``We came down and tested, were pretty competitive, and it's a shame that we had a bad deal in practice and we didn't get any laps in.''
Irvan will try again in Phoenix next weekend.
Michael Waltrip won the outside pole for today's race at 155.320 mph in a Pontiac Grand Prix, missing the pole by less than 1/100th of a second.
Ward Burton was third-fastest in another Pontiac at 155.300 mph, followed by Jeff Gordon in the fastest Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 155.195. Mark Martin was fifth-fastest in a Ford at 155.188. Also in the top 10 were Dick Trickle in a Ford at 155.070, Ricky Rudd in a Ford at 154.716, Darrell Waltrip in a Chevy at 154.677, Joe Nemechek in a Chevy at 154.067 and Derrike Cope in a Ford at 154.657.
Stricklin said he expected to have a top-10 car in qualifying but was about 2/10ths of a second faster than he had been in practice.
``I went for it - win, crash or blow - and the car stuck (in the turns),'' he said.
Stricklin's success came in the wake of car owner Kenny Bernstein's inability to sell his Winston Cup team. The land and shop outside Charlotte are for sale. Crew chief Richard Broome will join Ricky Rudd next year. And Stricklin has signed to drive the Stavola Brothers Ford in 1996.
``The chemistry is so ripe on this team, it's a darn shame we have to break up and each of us has to go our separate ways,'' he said. ``Everybody believes in one another and it seems like that's really the key.
``There's a lot of great race drivers out there in the garage area only waiting to get in good cars. I was able to go out there and prove that today.'' by CNB