THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 6, 1996 TAG: 9607060515
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: 56 lines
There were two qualifying sessions Friday at Daytona International Speedway, and although only one driver participated in the second one, he captured all of the drama.
Dave Marcis was trying to qualify for his 800th Winston Cup race, and he was having all sorts of trouble doing it.
During the rain-delayed first round, which left Jeff Gordon on the pole, Marcis' oil pump locked up and he was unable to start his lap. Marcis does not have any provisional starting spots left, so he could not afford to come up short during the second round.
Marcis, using Dale Earnhardt's qualifying engine, made it easily, qualifying for the 26th starting spot for today's Pepsi 400.
Marcis, who has won five races in a career stretching back to 1968, is 55 years old. Only Richard Petty has run more Winston Cup races (1,177) than Marcis. But after making the race, Marcis had all the enthusiasm of a rookie.
``I don't know how to put it in words,'' he said. ``It's just great to be out there running with the guys. There were a lot of obstacles to get through, but we overcame them and we're in the show.''
For Marcis, the most challenging task was getting the engine out of Earnhardt's car and into his car in time for the second round.
``Richard Childress' guys jumped right in and helped my guys and everybody worked hard,'' Marcis said. ``We even got out to run two practice laps.''
Marcis' speed of 186.389 mph would have been good enough for the eighth starting spot had he made that lap Thursday. Marcis coaxed almost the same speed out of Earnhardt's engine as did Earnhardt, who qualified seventh-fastest Thursday at 186.409 mph.
The postponed final segment of the first round of qualifying, meanwhile, was a snoozer. No one came close to matching the 188.869 mph lap that Jeff Gordon posted Thursday before the rains came.
Gordon was almost a half-second quicker than anyone else in winning his fourth pole of 1996, but he said that is meaningless when the green flag falls at 11 a.m. today.
The track obviously was slower when first-round qualifying resumed at 9 a.m. Friday, although the weather conditions were not radically different. Still, five of the nine drivers who ran Thursday retained top-10 starting positions.
After the first round was completed Friday, the top five were Gordon, Sterling Marlin (187.207 mph) in a Chevy, Dale Jarrett (187.044) in a Ford, Darrell Waltrip (186.776) in a Chevy and Johnny Benson (186.652) in a Pontiac. Jeff Purvis, Earnhardt, Ken Schrader, Lake Speed and Bobby Labonte rounded out the top 10.
Gordon, Waltrip, Purvis, Earnhardt and Speed ran on Thursday, the others on Friday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
Jeff Gordon's speed of 188.869 on Thursday was not approached Friday
at Daytona. by CNB