THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 17, 1996 TAG: 9608170509
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: 66 lines
Tears glistened in Jeff Burton's eyes in March in frigid Atlanta as he tried to explain to his new team how much it hurt to fail to qualify for the spring race there.
``I told everyone we were going to sit on a pole this year at some place like Atlanta, and that Atlanta was a fluke,'' Burton recalled.
He made good on his promise Friday at Michigan International Speedway, winning the pole for Sunday's GM 400 with a speed of 185.395 mph in his Jack Roush-owned Ford Thunderbird.
``This is the same car that didn't make the race that day in Atlanta,'' Burton said during his pole-winner's interview. It was the first career pole for the 29-year-old, third-year driver from South Boston, Va.
Bobby Labonte, who won both Winston Cup races at Michigan last year, was second-fastest in a Chevrolet Monte Carlo at 185.228 mph, followed by Mark Martin in a Ford at 185.219, Dick Trickle in a Ford at 185.138 and Bobby Hamilton in a Pontiac Grand Prix at 184.407.
Sterling Marlin was sixth-fastest in a Chevy at 184.393 mph, followed by Jeff Gordon in a Chevy at 184.157, Darrell Waltrip in a Chevy at 183.852, Lake Speed in a Ford at 183.833 and Michael Waltrip in a Ford at 183.730.
Burton, the 1994 Rookie of the Year, still has no clue why he wasn't fast enough to make the field at Atlanta five months ago. He was second in Winston Cup points at the time, and missing the race dropped him to 14th. He's now 12th.
``We just didn't run fast enough,'' he said. ``To this day, I don't know why. But when you miss a race and you put your whole life into it, it's pretty disappointing. I had tears in my eyes. I pulled my team aside (and told them) we were going to prove to ourselves and everybody else that we knew what we were doing and that Atlanta was a fluke.''
Burton knew why he went fast enough to win the pole Friday, but he wasn't telling.
``Today we did something a little bit different than we did the last time,'' he said. ``It's all about the chassis and how the car drives. Today we were able to make the car drive like it did in practice. We normally lose a couple of tenths (of a second in qualifying). Today we gained a couple of tenths.''
Burton is not a big fan of qualifying, mostly because he struggles with it.
``If you look at our whole year and say, `Where are they the weakest?' it's been qualifying,'' Burton said. His best effort before Friday was seventh at Talladega last month.
``I don't like qualifying,'' he said. ``I qualify because they make us qualify.
``Qualifying is a very subtle thing,'' he added, noting that only about a twentieth of a second separated him from Trickle, who qualified fourth-fastest. ``I couldn't tell you if we ran a half of a tenth better or slower than he did.''
The drivers at the bottom end of the lineup were a full second slower than Burton.
Jeremy Mayfield is on the bubble in the 38th starting spot for the second round of time trials, at 10:30 a.m. today. Behind him are Greg Sacks, Jimmy Spencer, Ron Hornaday, Mike Wallace and Derrike Cope, who burned a piston and failed to complete his run.
Among other notables in qualifying, Dale Earnhardt was 16th-fastest, points leader Terry Labonte was was 22nd, Ricky Rudd was 23rd, Burton's brother Ward was 24th, and Jim Sauter, driving for Kyle Petty, was 27th. ILLUSTRATION: ASSOCIATED PRESS photo
Jeff Burton won the pole for Sunday's GM 400 at Michigan in the same
car that failed to make the field in Atlanta in March. by CNB