THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 9, 1997 TAG: 9702090176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: 81 lines
Surprise, surprise.
The winners of the top two starting spots for next Sunday's Daytona 500 are a rookie and a struggling fourth-year driver.
Rookie Mike Skinner stole teammate Dale Earnhardt's usual Daytona thunder by winning the 500 pole at 189.813 mph Saturday in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
The outside starting position on the front row went to Steve Grissom, who was fired from the Cartoon Network Chevrolet after 13 races last season. Grissom reached 189.318 mph in the Kodiak Chevrolet owned by Larry Hedrick.
``My feelings are unexplainable, I guess,'' said Skinner, the 1995 NASCAR truck champion. ``This moment here is right at the top. When you think it can't get any better, something happens.''
The Fords were shut out of the front row after dominating January testing and Friday's practice sessions. But the Thunderbirds did have the next seven fastest speeds.
Defending Daytona 500 champion Dale Jarrett was third-fastest at 189.286 mph, followed by Rusty Wallace at 189.179, Bobby Hillin Jr. at 189.111, John Andretti at 188.834, Ernie Irvan at 188.826, Loy Allen at 188.474 and Greg Sacks at 188.281.
Dale Earnhardt, last year's pole winner, was 10th-fastest in a Chevy at 188.151.
``Coming from the same place as the 31 car (driven by Skinner), you'd think we'd run about the same,'' Earnhardt said. ``There are too many variables and we miscued on the rain, and that contributed.''
The scheduled 2 p.m. start of the qualifying session was delayed 45 minutes, then interrupted three times, by very light sprinkles.
Earnhardt was warming up when one of the showers hit. He had to stop, try to cool the engine during the delay and then warm up again. That may have hurt him.
Skinner wasn't having an easy time of it, either.
``We took off in first gear and I made the first rookie mistake,'' he said. ``I tried to shift into second and I hit fourth. It bogged the motor down and choked it, and I thought it was really going to hurt the engine.
``When I thought nothing else could happen, we went down in the third turn under green and there was a garbage bag or something sitting there right in the line. It looked like a ball cap or something. I didn't know if somebody had shredded a tire or what, so I went around it. When I did, the car got loose.
``But I heard the motor pick up and the car shot really straight off (turn) 4, and I said, `Man, this could be a really good lap.' ''
Skinner's lap knocked Grissom off the pole.
Near the bottom of the 52-car qualifying lineup waited Wallace and Jarrett, two of the strongest threats for the pole. Both broke 189 mph but could not match Skinner's trash-bag lap.
Grissom was even a bigger surprise. He was fast in January and on Friday, but it was nothing to write home about it.
``It's pretty amazing (considering) the way the end of 1996 wound up,'' Grissom said. ``I'm definitely not the first one it's ever happened to, but that doesn't make it any easier.
``We unloaded yesterday (with a speed) exactly where we loaded up on our second test. It was just a matter of massaging the car a little bit and tuning the motor.''
Among the drivers who did not fare so well Saturday were Jeff Gordon, Mark Martin and Winston Cup champion Terry Labonte (22nd, 23rd and 24th-fastest), Sterling Marlin (28th), Kyle Petty (32nd), Bobby Hamilton (36th), Jeff Burton (40th), Ted Musgrave (44th) and Joe Nemechek, who was unable to complete a lap because of mechanical troubles.
There will be three more qualifying sessions, beginning Monday. But the rest of the field behind the front row will be set after Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races.
And next Sunday, when the race starts, the rookie pole winner knows what may happen.
``They'll drop-kick me like a hard football when that green flag drops, but maybe we'll drop-kick them back,'' Skinner said. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Showers delayed, then interrupted Daytona 500 qualifying on
Saturday. The top two positions were set during the session.
Color photos
Rookie Mike Skinner won the pole with a lap of 189.813.
Steve Grissom, fired midway through '96, starts second.