THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 29, 1994 TAG: 9410290350
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PHOENIX LENGTH: Medium: 66 lines
On Halloween weekend, Sterling Marlin returned from the dead to win the pole position for Sunday's Slick 50 500 at Phoenix International Raceway.
Marlin had all but disappeared from the Winston Cup limelight after winning the season-opening Daytona 500, which was his first career victory, and finishing second in the year's second race, at Rockingham.
He was barely heard from again until Friday, when his lap of 129.833 mph in his Chevrolet Lumina broke the Phoenix track record and gave him his first pole of the year.
``I've always enjoyed this track,'' Marlin said. ``There's something about it. . . . It seems to suit my style.''
Marlin knocked off Rusty Wallace, who ended up with the outside pole at 129.190 mph in a Ford Thunderbird. Bill Elliott was third-fastest at 129.009 in a Ford, followed by Ricky Rudd in another Ford at 128.981 and Dale Jarrett in a Chevy at 128.908.
Also in the top 10 were Mark Martin (128.663 mph), Ken Schrader (128.571), Dale Earnhardt (128.562), Brett Bodine (128.493) and Lake Speed (128.374).
Marlin's lap eclipsed the record of 129.482 mph set by Elliott last year. It was the 19th track record in 30 races this year. And Marlin was the 16th different pole winner this year - a record for the modern era of Winston Cup racing. (The previous high was 15 in 1982.)
``We were pretty fortunate to get a late spot in the qualifying because somebody blew an engine before qualifying started and the track wasn't too good early,'' Marlin said. ``I think we were 41st in line. I guess the track was getting pretty good by then.''
So, Sterling, what went wrong after February?
``Bad luck,'' he said. ``We've probably had four races all year where we've run all day and didn't have any trouble. . . . From Richmond on, it's been something like that all year. We had a top-five car in a lot of races and something went wrong. So maybe we'll get it all out of our system and get right for next season.''
Those at the bottom of the qualifying lineup, and in danger of missing the race, include Ward Burton (40th-fastest), Jeff Purvis (42nd), Rick Carelli (44th), Loy Allen (45th), and Hut Stricklin, who spun twice during his run and did not finish. The second round of time trials is at 3 p.m. (EDT) today.
KYLE, COORS TEAM UP: Coors beer will return to Winston Cup racing as sponsor of the No. 42 Pontiacs owned by Felix Sabates.
Driver Kyle Petty said he was happy to have backing from Coors, adding, ``I've run a lot of good sponsors out of racing. When you run Coca-Cola out, you've pretty much run them all out.''
Some Winston Cup observers were less than thrilled with the Coors/Sabates alliance because other teams needed the high-profile sponsorship more than Sabates, who had three more years on his contract with Coke's Mello Yello subsidiary but was granted his request to be released from it.
JARRETT STILL WAITING: Dale Jarrett is still waiting for word from team owner Joe Gibbs as to whether he will be released from his contract to drive the No. 28 Ford owned by Robert Yates.
Jarrett has two more years on his contract with Gibbs but has had an offer from Yates to fill in next year for the injured Ernie Irvan.
``It hasn't changed,'' Jarrett said. ``Joe and I talked briefly earlier this week, but nothing was resolved. He said he was trying to accommodate me.'' by CNB