THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602110233
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Medium: 76 lines
Dale Earnhardt on Saturday did something he'd never done: He won the pole for the Daytona 500.
Earnhardt's best lap of 189.510 mph, the fastest of 1996 around the 2.5-mile, high-banked Daytona International Speedway, moved him one step closer to fulfilling his most elusive goal - winning the 500 itself.
``We felt like we did our homework well,'' Earnhardt said. ``This car was developed for Daytona and, hopefully, it will be the car to beat.''
Ernie Irvan, second-fastest at 189.366 mph in his Robert Yates Ford Thunderbird, was just 36-thousandths of a second slower than Earnhardt.
``This is what it was all shaping up to be - to be back at Daytona and be competitive,'' Irvan said. ``But here, it's the race team. I think they've worked about 12 weeks in a row without a day off.''
Irvan beat his teammate, Dale Jarrett, for the second starting spot - the only other spot locked up in today's session. The rest of the field will be set after Thursday's Twin 125 qualifying races.
Jarrett was at 189.330 mph in his Ford, followed by Jeremy Mayfield in another Ford at 189.294 and two-time defending 500 champion Sterling Marlin at 188.814 in a Chevy.
Each driver ran two laps around the speedway, and Earnhardt was convinced that Irvan would win the pole after Irvan's first lap.
``When Ernie ran his first lap, I thought he was going to beat us because it was better than Jarrett's first lap. That worried us,'' Earnhardt said. ``We ran a slower first lap than we thought we should have (188.408 mph), but still, it felt good coming off (turn) four and seeing your number on the board second after the first lap.''
Irvan said nothing in particular happened on his second lap to leave him short of Earnhardt's speed.
``You can drive 2 feet lower or the track or 2 feet higher and it doesn't matter,'' he said. ``They could wire the throttle wide open before you went out and it wouldn't make any difference.''
Irvan, who sat out most of the 1995 season after a near-fatal crash in practice at Michigan in August 1994, said his performance Saturday ``doesn't really prove a whole lot about coming back and proving myself on a superspeedway. I guess at Atlanta last year I really proved myself. Atlanta really feels a lot faster than this.''
``But I really have to be honest with you, everything with my comeback surprised me. Sitting out as long as I sat out and going through all the trauma my body went through, it's amazing how I've been able to come back.
``All the prayers are answered because I never thought I'd ever be able to race again when I was laying in that hospital in Michigan.''
Said Earnhardt: ``Nobody can explain how he did that. We are just proud that he did, and he's back here today.''
Earnhardt said preparation was the key to his pole. His team tested three cars here and used Dave Marcis and Mike Skinner to help him with the driving.
``We spend probably more time testing here than you would at 10 other tracks together,'' he said.
Defending Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, was sixth-fastest at 188.588 mph in a Chevy, and Robert Pressley was seventh in another Chevy at 188.529. Rick Mast was eighth-quickest in the fastest Pontiac Grand Prix at 188.478, followed by Chevy drivers Terry Labonte (188.367) and Ken Schrader (188.147).
A number of prominent drivers were at the other end of the lineup, most notably Mark Martin, who was 37th-fastest after a best lap of 184.824 mph in his Ford.
``Pretty pathetic, but that's what I expected,'' he said. ``I'm sure it will draft better, but that's what we've got.''
One of Martin's teammates, Ted Musgrave, was 39th-fastest. But Jeff Burton, Jack Roush's new driver, was 14th-fastest.
Meanwhile, Bobby Labonte was 42nd-fastest, Hut Stricklin was 45th and Brett Bodine, severely hampered by a fire in his primary car during Friday's practice, was 46th-fastest in his backup car.
Forty-nine cars took qualifying laps. by CNB