THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, April 29, 1995 TAG: 9504290488
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Some of the greatest races in NASCAR history have occurred at Talladega Superspeedway, but winning the pole position never really amounts to much here, at least for the drivers.
And it was no different Friday as Terry Labonte won the top starting spot for Sunday's Winston Select 500 with a speed of 196.532 miles per hour in his Chevrolet Monte Carlo.
``Well, this is just one of those places where drivers can't really screw up qualifying too much,'' Labonte said. ``The car just ran good.''
``I didn't really worry about running the line I wanted to run.I just kept trying to keep the car real free. We knew we'd be close. We were really good right off the truck.''
In the current age of carburetor restrictor plates to keep speeds down, Labonte's lap was the fastest speed here since 1990.
``We were talking about that in the truck and we really couldn't figure it out either, unless the temperature is a little bit cooler than it has been,'' Labonte said. ``Everybody gets a little better over the winter. They find more power. The cars get a little bit better, and that's probably why the speeds picked up.''
This was Labonte's first pole since Watkins Glen in 1991, but the bigger surprise was Loy Allen, who celebrated his return to the Winston Cup series, after missing three races, by winning the outside pole. Allen was fired from the No. 27 Ford Thunderbird team before the race at Bristol earlier this month.
Allen reached 195.977 miles per hour in the No. 19 Tri-Star Ford Thunderbird - the car he drove last year.
``The Tri-Star team has been here testing many times over the years and they've learned a lot while they've been here at this race track,'' Allen told Ford's Wayne Estes.
Labonte was asked if he was surprised by Allen's performance.
``I didn't even know he was here,'' Labonte said. ``We've never clocked him or anything, so I guess that was a surprise.''
Mark Martin qualified third in a Ford at 195.728 mph, followed by Bobby Labonte in a Chevy at 195.664 mph and Dale Jarrett in a Ford at 195.604 mph.
Also in the top 10 are Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 195.512 mph, Sterling Marlin in a Chevy at 195.202 mph, Dick Trickle in a Ford at 194.824 mph, Robert Pressley in a Chevy at 194.789 mph and Michael Waltrip in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 194.741 mph.
Among other drivers, Rick Mast qualified 13th, Dale Earnhardt was 16th, Darrell Waltrip was 21st fastest, Bill Elliott was 24th, Ricky Rudd was 26th, Kyle Petty 29th, Elton Sawyer 32nd and Rusty Wallace 35th.
Earnhardt, Wallace and Waltrip all were hit with power plant problems before qualifying and had to change engines. Waltrip had to change two.
Forty-six drivers made qualifying runs Friday, but only 42 will be left after the second round of time trials at 11:30 a.m.
Steve Grissom currently sits on the bubble in 38th position. Behind him, in order of fastest to slowest, are Joe Nemechek, Jeff Burton, Geoff Bodine, Ritchie Petty, Billy Standridge, Ward Burton, Brett Bodine and Steve Seligman. by CNB