THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, March 23, 1996 TAG: 9603230449
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium: 82 lines
Jeff Green took a big step toward turning around an abysmal start to the 1996 season Friday by winning the pole for today's Dura-Lube 200 Busch Grand National race at Darlington Raceway.
Green, driving Dale Earnhardt's Chevrolet Monte Carlo, circled this 1.366-mile oval at 166.337 mph, breaking the track record for Grand National cars by more than 4 mph. It was Green's first pole since Myrtle Beach last June.
Green said he was motivated after his older brother, David, practiced in the car Friday morning.
``I guess he got me tuned up for this racetrack when he ran the car faster than I had,'' Jeff Green said. ``It made me work harder.''
Mark Martin, who has led more than three times as many laps as any other driver on the Busch circuit this season, won the outside pole at 166.090 mph. Martin, a Winston Cup regular, has led 411 of the 764 laps run this year despite skipping last weekend's race in Nashville, Tenn.
Also in the top 10 for today's race (Tape-delay; 5:30 p.m., ESPN) were Mike McLaughlin in a Chevy at 165.917 mph, David Green in a Chevy at 165.810, Ward Burton in a Pontiac at 165.771, Dale Jarrett in a Ford at 165.331 and Chevy drivers Ricky Craven (165.220), Randy LaJoie (165.181), Sterling Marlin (165.170) and Dick Trickle (165.142).
Forty-nine cars competed for 38 regular starting positions. Provisional starting spots went to Patty Moise, Mike Dillon, Shane Hall and Bobby Dotter. Moise broke a bone below her left knee at Rockingham and is making her first start since Richmond. Drivers who failed to make the race include Tommy Houston, Buckshot Jones, Michael Laughlin, Randy Porter and Pete Orr.
Jeff Green has yet to get a top-10 finish in the five Grand National races run this year and is 27th in points. ``We hope to turn this season around here,'' he said.
WIND TUNNEL TESTS: In the wake of NASCAR's latest wind tunnel tests, the official position is: If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
NASCAR has released no specific information about the results of the tests, which involved a Ford, a Chevy and a Pontiac from both the Busch and Winston Cup series.
``We're still trying to figure it out,'' Mike Helton, NASCAR vice president for competition, said Friday. But the word in the garage was that the tests showed that the Ford and Chevy were closer than they were in last November's tests, but that the Chevy still has a downforce advantage.
Last year, an independent test by Ford showed that the Chevy had about 22 percent more rear downforce than the Thunderbird.
Last week's NASCAR tests showed that the Chevy downforce advantage was down to single digits, sources said.
``The wind tunnel can only tell you a third of what's going on,'' Helton said. ``In addition to the aerodynamics of the car, you've got the horsepower in the engine and you've got the driver. And if the numbers are close in the wind tunnel and the competition is close on the track, like it was at Atlanta, there's no motivation on our part to change things.
PONTIAC A SLEEPER: The Pontiac's performance in the wind tunnel reportedly was quite intriguing. The word is that the Pontiac had even better rear downforce than the Chevy, as well as less drag.
But the problem for the Pontiac was that it reportedly had far less front downforce than the other two makes - so much, in fact, that it puts the whole car out of balance.
The Pontiac drivers say that's true.
``The problem is, the new Grand Prix is out of balance,'' Rick Mast said. ``It really doesn't show up in one lap. It's more on the long runs.''
Ward Burton, who won the pole for Sunday's TranSouth 400 in a Pontiac, elaborated.
``The new Pontiac doesn't have any front downforce and it's got rear,'' he said. ``That means tight. Everywhere we've been, we've been too tight on the racetrack. We can't get the car turning and can't get the nose pointed to where I can get on the gas quick.''
TIME CHANGE: Martinsville Speedway has moved the starting time for the April 21 Goody's 500 back a half-hour, to 1 p.m., to accommodate live coverage by ESPN.
Qualifying will begin at 3 p.m. Friday, April 19. Second-round qualifying is scheduled for 12:15 p.m. April 20, with the Goody's 200 All-Pro race to follow at 2 p.m. For ticket information, call (540) 956-3151.
by CNB