
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SATURDAY, August 12, 1995                   TAG: 9508140133
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: WATKINS GLEN, N.Y.                                 LENGTH: Medium

MARTIN BACK ON TRACK AGAIN AT WATKINS GLEN

Mark Martin will be running for his third straight Bud at the Glen victory Sunday from a familiar place - the pole position.

Martin won his third straight pole Friday at Watkins Glen International with a NASCAR track record speed of 120.411 mph in his Ford Thunderbird.

``If I had tried any harder, I would have gone through a guardrail,'' Martin said. ``I didn't think I could beat Terry Labonte, and then [Bill] Elliott did his and it was pretty awesome. But it turned out OK.''

Elliott was second fastest at 120.332 mph in another Thunderbird as Fords took the front row, an unusual accomplishment in this season of the Chevrolet Monte Carlo. (Qualifying results in Scoreboard. B4)

``Sure, I'm disappointed we didn't get the pole as close as we were,'' Elliott said. ``But we've got nothing to be ashamed of, especially the way the second half of our season has been.''

Labonte was third-fastest in the quickest Chevy at 120.188 mph, followed by Rusty Wallace in a Ford (120.082). Jeff Gordon, winner of eight poles this season, was fifth fastest in a Chevy at 120.005. Michael Waltrip was sixth fastest in the quickest Pontiac Grand Prix, reaching 119.658 mph on his lap. Ricky Rudd was seventh fastest in a Ford (119.608), followed by Kyle Petty in a Pontiac (119.456), Jeremy Mayfield in a Ford (119.297) and Morgan Shepherd in a Ford (119.276).

Those drivers along with the next three - Bobby Labonte, Wally Dallenbach (driving Bill Davis' No.22 Pontiac) and Dale Jarrett - also beat Martin's previous record of119.118 mph set in 1993. The faster speeds were attributed to the fact that the 2.45-mile, 11-turn road course has been repaved.

There wasn't anything special about Martin's run here Friday that he hasn't done in the past. He tested here this year, but didn't learn any more than ``what we were doing was all we could do.''

Forty-three cars made qualifying runs Friday and only one driver, Darrell Waltrip, didn't finish. He broke his transmission.

A second round of time trials at 10:30 a.m. today will fill out the 38-car field.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB