THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, June 2, 1996 TAG: 9606020196
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C10 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DOVER, DEL. LENGTH: 53 lines
One day after hopping into the No. 95 Ford Thunderbird for the first time, Gary Bradberry found the speed it took to qualify for the Miller 500 at Dover Downs International Speedway.
It will be his first Winston Cup race of 1996.
Bradberry reached 152.304 mph during the second round of qualifying Saturday, which won him the 26th starting spot for today's race. Had he run that lap Friday in the first round, Bradberry would have tied Sterling Marlin for 19th.
``We got here yesteday and I had never seen this racetrack,'' Bradberry said Saturday. ``It was really a last-minute deal to come up here. We had no idea that we'd be the second-round quickest.''
Bradberry, who replaced Chuck Bown in the No. 95 car, needed to crack the top 38, as he does not qualify for a provisional starting spot. The same was true for Hermie Sadler of Emporia, Va., who won the 30th starting spot with a lap of 151.815 mph.
Provisional starting spots went to Greg Sacks, Dave Marcis, Darrell Waltrip and Jeremy Mayfield.
MARCIS TALES: Things have changed since Dave Marcis started racing in NASCAR's top series in 1968.
``It was a little different then,'' Marcis told Chevy's Ray Cooper. ``Our cars were more nailed down to the ground then. Aerodynamics weren't as important.
``Today, aerodynamics are so important on the race cars that if you bend them up a little bit, they don't handle anymore. And it don't take much of a tap on the cars today to spin 'em. Years ago, we could lay against one another and rub and bang and keep right on going. It was probably more fun then.''
Marcis, who is famous for his appetite, said he hasn't been ``thrown out of any restaurants for eating too much lately.''
``I was asked not to come back to a restaurant here in Dover about 15 years ago. It was a seafood place. We ate for about four hours. It was pretty high-priced, so we had to get our money's worth. The guy told us when we were leaving that we didn't need to come back.''
MORE FINES: NASCAR fined Robin Pemberton, Rusty Wallace's crew chief, $2,500 for having roll bars that were too thin in the door-cage area on one side of the car. NASCAR also fined the crew chiefs of Busch drivers Dennis Setzer, Tommy Houston, Buckshot Jones and Hal Browning $1,000 for having the same problem, and fined Danny Edwards' crew chief $2,000 because the wrong bars were on both sides of the car. The violations were found Friday.
SACKS IN: Robert Pressley will be doing no driving in Leo Jackson's No. 33 Chevrolet.
Pressley, recovering from a broken rib suffered in a crash during practice at Charlotte, was ready to start the car, as he did in last Sunday's Coca-Cola 600, but crew chief Andy Petree decided to let Greg Sacks do all the driving.
Pressley put on a good face when asked about the switch. ``We're going to kick back a little bit and get ready for Pocono,'' he said. by CNB