Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, March 13, 1993 TAG: 9303130177
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON, GA. LENGTH: Medium
1 MORE TEST HELPS WALLACE MAKE GRADE
Thirty Winston Cup teams came to test at Atlanta Motor Speedway last week. After it rained two days, 29 teams departed.And that, Rusty Wallace said, may have been why he won the pole Friday for Sunday's Motorcraft 500.
"I've just got to believe that test we did helped a little bit," Wallace said after driving his Pontiac Grand Prix through the gloom and chill of a cold March afternoon to take the top starting spot with a speed of 178.749 mph. "The car was fast right off the truck."
Dale Earnhardt was second fastest in a Chevrolet Lumina at 178.516 mph, followed by Mark Martin in a Ford Thunderbird at 178.377 mph. Jeff Gordon, continuing his strong rookie start, was fourth fastest at 177.919 mph in a Chevy, followed by Ernie Irvan in another Chevy at 177.798 mph.
Also in the top 10 were Brett Bodine in a Ford at 177.631 mph, Morgan Shepherd in a Ford at 177.475 mph, Terry Labonte in a Chevy at 177.183 mph, Ted Musgrave in a Ford at 177.160 mph and Ken Schrader in a Chevy at 177.413 mph.
"We came down here last Tuesday to test and got rained out and we got rained out on Wednesday," said Wallace. "There were 29 teams down here and they all loaded up and headed home.
"We got in the plane and flew back down and we were the only car here on Thursday. When you talk about a commitment to win, I mean the rest of the teams didn't show up on Thursday because they all left to go to Richmond.
"If anything, I may have put the truck driver in a bad position and the team in a bad position by keeping them up later to get to Richmond. We didn't get to Richmond until 3 a.m. [last Friday]. But I could not understand why 29 teams loaded up and went home.
"We were the only ones sitting out here. We had a good test, the weather was great, we loaded up, got in the plane and flew to Richmond and finished second up there."
Wallace, who talks as fast as he drives, has been bragging about his team since January. So far, Wallace has backed up everything he's said.
His Pontiac was strong at Daytona, despite his horrendous crash. He won at Rockingham and finished second at Richmond.
"I've already got on the Winner's Circle [a NASCAR bonus program for race winners], I got in the [1994] Clash, I got in The Winston. I've got every bonus available in NASCAR Winston Cup knocked out in two races," Wallace said. "It's really working good for us."
Earnhardt summed up his feeling about losing the pole in one sentence. "You never know who's going to pull something out of the bag," he said.
Aside from Rich Bickle, who crashed in practice and couldn't qualify, the driver with the biggest problem Friday was Davey Allison. He broke an engine while practicing in his Ford and only completed two or three laps of practice. Allison qualified 31st.
"We haven't hit the combination with this car yet," Allison said.
Others who failed to qualify in the top 20 included Geoff Bodine (21st), Kyle Petty (27th), Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki (29th), Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett (33rd) and Darrell Waltrip (35th).
"I don't know what happened," Petty said.
"I did everything but wreck," Jarrett said.
With bad weather forecast for today, Friday's time trials likely will be the only opportunity to make Sunday's race, which starts at 1 p.m.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING