Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 28, 1992 TAG: 9203280115
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Medium
Marlin, the first driver to qualify, turned his lap at 163.067 mph, breaking Geoff Bodine's track record of 162.996 mph set in March, 1990.
Johnson's other driver, Bill Elliott, was next to qualify on this 1.366-mile oval. Elliott, the hottest driver so far of 1992, reached 162.899 mph, which turned out to be second-fastest.
"When Bill didn't beat us, I thought we had a real good shot to sit on the pole," Marlin said. "The car pushed up in [turns] 3 and 4, so I didn't think [the lap] would be that good. It surprised me."
The Fords continued their dominance, taking four of the top Top qualifiers in Scoreboard. B4 New spoiler may replace restrictor plate. B5 five starting spots, but Ernie Irvan managed to sneak into the third starting spot in his Chevrolet Lumina at 162.689 mph.
Brett Bodine was fourth-fastest at 162.415 mph, followed by Davey Allison at 162.404 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Darrell Waltrip (Chevrolet, 162.008 mph), Greg Sacks (Chevrolet, 161.758 mph), Dale Earnhardt (Chevrolet, 161.492 mph), Dale Jarrett (Chevrolet, 161.418 mph), and Dave Mader III (Ford, 161.339 mph).
Rick Mast's qualifying lap of 159.017 mph was only 28th-fastest of the 33 cars that qualified Friday. "We ran good," Mast said. "Everyone just picked up a whole lot more than we did."
Ricky Rudd was 18th-fastest after a lap at 160.528 mph. "I'm not getting through either end of the track like I should, but we picked up . . . from practice and at least cracked the top 20," he said.
Although Marlin thought Elliott had the best chance to beat his speed, he said he was "sweating BBs" as 31 other cars took their shots at the pole. "We just held our breath and dodged all the bullets," he said.
Geoff Bodine seemed to be one of the top contenders after topping his track record in practice with a lap of 163.375 mph.
But Bodine reached only 161.259 mph on his qualifying lap, which was 12th fastest.
Alan Kulwicki, usually a strong qualifier, also was disappointed Friday. Kulwicki reached only 160.224 mph, 21st fastest, and shrugged, "That's as fast as I can go."
Mark Martin, another typically strong qualifier, was only 14th fastest at 161.085 mph.
"That's the best we've run," Martin said. "With this spoiler change, we've been trying a lot of different things since we got here, and we've got more to try."
NASCAR instituted a new rule Wednesday ordering larger spoilers on all the Winston Cup cars for all races except those at Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway.
But Marlin, for one, wasn't thinking about the new spoiler when he ran. "I never even asked them what was on the car," he said.
A second round of time trials begins today at 11:30 a.m.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB