DATE: Friday, July 4, 1997                  TAG: 9707040859

SECTION: SPORTS                  PAGE: C2   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.               LENGTH:   79 lines

SKINNER MAKES IT 2 FOR 2 AT DAYTONA THE WINSTON CUP ROOKIE WINS THE POLE AGAIN; TEAMMATE EARNHARDT IS 2ND.

In a NASCAR Winston Cup race, the first driver out on the track for qualifications usually doesn't have any hope of winning the pole position.

But Daytona 500 pole-winner Mike Skinner, with a little help from a relentless Florida sun, defied those odds Thursday and won the pole for Saturday's Pepsi 400 when his teammate, Dale Earnhardt, fell 5/1000ths of a second short.

Skinner, a rookie in the Winston Cup series, posted a lap of 189.777 mph in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo and then sat back and watched 44 other drivers fail to beat his speed. Earnhardt, who qualified close to the end of the line, came the closest, reaching 189.761 mph.

On the stopwatch, Skinner made it around this 2.5-mile superspeedway in 47.424 seconds; Earnhardt's lap time was 47.428.

``We really were concerned with qualifying first, but there are some places it doesn't matter as much as others,'' Skinner said. And Daytona is one of those places, he added.

``Most of the places we go, the weather changes a lot in the afternoon and toward the end of qualifying the air temperature will go down eight or 10 degrees . . . and it will speed up the racetrack,'' Skinner said.

``Here at Daytona, I don't think there was any advantage going out first or last today. If the clouds had come out, yeah, but as it worked out, the sun was shining all day. I don't think the temperature dropped at all.''

It was Skinner's second consecutive Daytona pole. Ten other drivers have won both Daytona poles in a single year, but Skinner is the first rookie to do it.

Said Earnhardt, ``We weren't that fast in practice (seventh), but that was a good run. We're ready for the race. It's hot. Let's go to the beach. Second doesn't count in qualifying.''

John Andretti, driving a new Ford Thunderbird, came from 26th-fastest in practice to qualify third after gaining a half-second from his best practice speed. He was at 189.422 mph. Jeff Gordon qualified fourth in a Chevy at 189.358 mph, followed by Jimmy Spencer at 189.004.

Rusty Wallace was sixth-fastest at 188.853 mph in a Ford, followed by Billy Standridge, who used an engine prepared by Andretti's engine builder to qualify seventh in his Ford at 188.790. Michael Waltrip qualified eighth at 188.786 in a Ford.

Rick Mast, who failed to qualify for the Daytona 500, will start his Ford ninth after reaching 188.766 mph. And Lake Speed put his unsponsored Ford in the 10th starting spot with a lap of 188.600.

Although drivers often talk about how easy it is just to hold the gas pedal to the floor and qualify at Daytona, that was not the case Friday.

The cars were set up with ultra-soft springs and shocks in the back to allow the air pressure to keep their back ends low on the track for faster speeds. But this technique also makes the cars loose, subject to bottoming out and difficult to drive.

``There hasn't been anything easy about driving that car today,'' Skinner said. ``The first lap on the track scared me to death. It was loose, and I just about backed into the corner. It's been a handful to drive all day.''

Said Darrell Waltrip, who was 31st-fastest, ``The car is bouncing around like a basketball and at these speeds it's tough to hold on. This track is all about shocks and springs, and right now we haven't found the right combination.''

Still, only one driver, Jeff Green, crashed Thursday. And that was because he cut a tire in practice.

``Unfortunately, I was already into the wall before I realized I'd cut it,'' Green said. Green was 42nd-fastest in his backup car.

Brett Bodine failed to finish his qualifying run after cutting a tire. And Sterling Marlin never even got started. He twice pulled off the track before taking the green flag for a qualifying run.

``We broke a shock or something,'' Marlin said. ``I almost wrecked in (turns) 3 and 4 in both (warmup) laps coming to the green, so it's better to save the car for the race than try to be a hero.''

Other drivers at the back of the field besides Marlin and Bodine were Dave Marcis (38th-fastest), Jerry Nadeau, Kyle Petty, Geoff Bodine, Jeff Green and Morgan Shepherd. They will have another chance to requalify at 1 p.m. today. The race is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday. ILLUSTRATION: Photo

Mike Skinner proved his Daytona 500 pole was no fluke; he'll put his

Chevy out front in Saturday's Pepsi 400.

Send Suggestions or Comments to webmaster@scholar.lib.vt.edu