THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, May 18, 1996 TAG: 9605180461
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines
Maybe it was just that his nerves could withstand the impulse to hit the brakes. Maybe it was that he's too young to know he should stop sooner.
In any event, Jeff Gordon on Friday won the pole position for tonight's Winston Select, and it was his mad dash down pit road at Charlotte Motor Speedway that clinched it for him.
Gordon's speed in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo for three laps and a two-tire pit stop was 142.001 miles per hour, a record for the qualifying format used in this annual all-star race.
That edged Dale Earnhardt, who averaged 140.986 mph on his run. Mark Martin was third in a Ford Thunderbird at 140.645 mph, followed by Dale Jarrett in a Ford at 140.636 mph and Sterling Marlin at 140.356 mph in a Chevy.
Earnhardt's pit crew got him out in 8.8 seconds, which was the fastest stop of the night and seven-tenths of a second quicker than the 9.5 seconds that the Gordon crew took. But when the clock stopped for total time, Gordon had done the entire routine about eight-tenths of a second faster than Earnhardt.
The difference, as it was last year when Bobby Labonte won the pole, was the speed of Gordon's run down pit road before his two-tire stop.
``I think everybody can run hard getting down pit road,'' he said. ``It's just knowing when to get on the brakes.''
Unlike most NASCAR pit stops, there's no pit road speed limit, and the entry into to the pits becomes a real gut check.
``I thought I was gonna miss my pit,'' said Martin.
Rusty Wallace did, and so he didn't get timed for his qualifying run. He'll start last tonight.
More than 150 feet from his pit stall, Wallace locked up his brakes, sending his Ford into a long, smoking slide that didn't end until he had gone nearly 20 feet past the his spot on pit road.
Barred by the rules from backing up, Wallace simply pulled away slowly and drove back to the speedway's garage, resigned to having the worst run of the 15 competitors.
``I just came in way too hot, that's it,'' he said.
``There was a mark I worked out in practice and to tell you the truth, I just came down pit road and lost my mark and came in way too deep. And that was it.''
Gordon, obviously, nailed it. But it was close.
``Even (the pit crew) said they had their doubts if I was going to make it into the pit stall,'' Gordon said. ``They said it looked like the car was floating on air. We had some good speed coming down pit road.
``I worked for about 10 minutes in that little (afternoon) practice we had earlier,'' he said, ``and it took me until about the third time to see how hard I could get down pit road.
``The car actually stalled on me when I came in the pits because I was on the brakes so hard,'' Gordon said.
``Other guys were downshifting, but I wasn't. I was just hard on the brakes to get it slowed down.
``I was worried about getting the car restarted. It finally restarted right before they dropped the jack.''
Behind the top five, Ward Burton was sixth fastest in the best Pontiac Grand Prix, followed by Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd, Darrell Waltrip, Kyle Petty, Geoff Bodine, Bobby Labonte, Ernie Irvan, Harry Gant and Wallace.
Earlier, in qualifying for The Winston Select Open, which precedes The Winston Select, Lake Speed won the top starting spot with a lap of 180.977 miles per hour.
Unlike qualifying for The Winston Select, the Open time trials was the best of two laps.
Speed was followed by Dick Trickle in a Ford at 180.874 mph, Brett Bodine in a Ford at 180.246 mph, Johnny Benson in a Pontiac at 180.102 mph and Derrike Cope in a Ford at 179.952 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Michael Waltrip, Robby Faggart, Bobby Hillin, Hut Stricklin and Bobby Hamilton.
The top five finishers in the 50-lap Open graduate to The Winston Select.
The Select, as in the past, will be run in three segments: 30 laps, 30 laps and 10 laps. The field will be inverted after the first 30-lap run. by CNB