THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, July 22, 1995 TAG: 9507220380
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA. LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Sterling Marlin was leading another Chevy speed parade Friday in pole position qualifying for Sunday's DieHard 500 when a terrific thunderstorm ended the day's activities.
Marlin, the Daytona 500 winner, was the only driver above 194 mph, reaching 194.212 mph in his Chevy Monte Carlo. Chevys had the top five qualifying times with nine drivers to run.
``We need to win a pole and get in that dash for cash (Busch Clash) next year at Daytona,'' Marlin said. ``The weather cooled down and everybody speeded up.''
It was a good bet that Marlin would win the pole, since none of the drivers left to qualify have won a pole this year. And those drivers will probably have to run on a much hotter track than many of the competitors had Friday. It was overcast most of the day and the heat abated as the storm moved in.
At one point just before a torrential downpour abruptly ended the session, lightning had the track surrounded. It was striking behind the trioval, outside the first turn and near the backstretch.
Bobby Labonte was second fastest before the rain hit, reaching 193.799 mph in his Chevy. He was followed by Jeff Gordon, Ken Schrader and Dale Earnhardt in three more Chevys. Gordon was at 193.740 mph, Schrader's lap was 193.658 and Earnhardt was 193.650.
Both Earnhardt and Gordon had problems before running strong.
``That was a great lap for this team,'' Gordon said. ``We made a pretty crucial call this morning. We changed motors. We just weren't getting it done out there. Picked us up quite a bit, obviously.''
Said Earnhardt: ``We're pretty excited just to get out there after the problems we've had. We weren't sure we were going to have a car to run. We had to change engines this morning. We changed ignitions and everything and went out there and ran pretty good.''
Ricky Rudd had the fastest Ford thus far. He was sixth at 193.525 mph, followed by Michael Waltrip in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 193.478 mph. Darrell Waltrip was eighth fastest in a Chevy at 193.433 mph, followed by Mark Martin, who won the May race here, at 193.181 mph in a Ford. Dale Jarrett was 10th fastest at 193.135 mph.
At the bottom end, from slowest to fastest, were Delma Cowart, Ward Burton, Chad Little, Derrike Cope, Bill Elliott, Steve Grissom, Terry Labonte, Jeff Burton, Chuck Bown and Mike Wallace.
Those who didn't have an opportunity to qualify were Robert Pressley, Kyle Petty, Joe Nemechek, Jeff Purvis, John Andretti, Loy Allen, Bobby Hamilton, Jimmy Hensley and Jeremy Mayfield.
They'll get their opportunity before the second round of qualifying begins at 10:45 a.m. today. by CNB