THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 23, 1996 TAG: 9605230535
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: 64 lines
The luck of the draw neither helped nor hurt Jeff Gordon on Wednesday evening in Coca-Cola 600 qualifying at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
It was a proven winner from his fleet of Chevrolet Monte Carlos that seemed to make the difference as Gordon won his third straight Coca-Cola 600 pole with a speed of 183.773 mph.
``I didn't think we were good enough for the pole tonight,'' said Gordon, the defending Winston Cup series champion. ``But this is just a proven car that's been really good to us. For whatever reason, we try to duplicate this car time and time again, and we can't. It's just awesome.''
Ricky Craven, still feeling a bit sore from his Talladega crash almost four weeks ago, took the second spot with a lap of 182.877 mph. John Andretti was third-fastest in a Ford Thunderbird at 182.871, followed by Terry Labonte in a Chevy at 182.469 and brother Bobby Labonte in a Chevy at 182.395.
Also in the top 10 were Chad Little, a surprising sixth-fastest in a Pontiac Grand Prix at 182.070 mph; Mark Martin and Michael Waltrip in Fords with the identical speed of 181.971 mph, Dick Trickle in a Ford at 181.892 and Lake Speed in a Ford at 181.818.
The session started at 7 p.m., when the sun was still shining on parts of the track, and ended at dusk. Gordon qualified about halfway through the session.
``I wouldn't have wanted to be any earlier, but I know if I go into (turns) 3 and 4 and the sun is not blasting me in the eyes, we're in a pretty good position where the sun will not affect us too much,'' Gordon said.
``I thought with Terry (Labonte) going late, he was going to have a shot at us. I really thought with what he drew and the way he'd been running in practice, he was going to be the guy to beat.''
Labonte, who qualified fifth-from-last, went on the track almost precisely at 8 p.m., with the sun setting magnificently behind the main grandstands. But he didn't have the speed.
``It wasn't quite as good in the center of the corner as I think we were in practice,'' Labonte said. ``I bobbled a little bit in the fourth turn and didn't get back in the throttle quick enough. I'm happy with it, but I thought I would have been at least second.''
The car that Gordon qualified was the first chassis on which his team hung Monte Carlo sheet metal when the Monte Carlo replaced the Lumina before the 1995 season. Among other accomplishments, it carried him to victory at Darlington earlier this year.
The subpar performance by the car he used in The Winston Select last Saturday night prompted the switch to this one.
``We knew that wasn't the car we wanted to bring back here,'' Gordon said. ``This is the first car we ever put a Monte Carlo body on, and it has been great ever since.''
There were two crashes during the qualifying session.
Elton Sawyer bottomed out into turn 3, his car bobbled and he lost control, smacking the wall in turn 4. Sawyer was taken to Cabarrus Memorial Hospital for X-rays of his right ankle and right rib cage.
And Brett Bodine blew an engine and smacked the wall backwards between turns 3 and 4, but was unhurt.
Second-round qualifying is at 6 tonight, and at the moment Morgan Shepherd has the 38th and final qualifying spot, trailed by Rusty Wallace, Randy MacDonald, Dave Marcis, Ted Musgrave, Ed Berrier, Hermie Sadler, Sawyer and Brett Bodine. ILLUSTRATION: Jeff Gordon by CNB