| | Associated Press
|
 |
|
|
Thursday, June 29
I think the Robert Yates cars are going to be awfully
hard to beat again at Daytona. Not because they're back on the front row,
but because only a
handful of cars came here to test for the Pepsi 400,
unlike February when the entire field comes here to test
and test prior to the Daytona 500. And two of those cars
were the 88 of Dale Jarrett and 28 of Ricky Rudd two
weeks ago.
With the limited amount of practice time on Friday you
would think the testing they did a few weeks ago will
really pay off Saturday night. But, while the cars may
look the same as they did for the Daytona 500, they are
racing under a different configuration.
In February, NASCAR mandated all four shock absorbers
would be the same. They gave the teams four shock
absorbers and said these are the shocks you will run in the Daytona 500.
Teams also had to run a certain rear spring on both sides.
Well, the race did not live up to NASCAR standards. It
really wasn't that exciting.
So, NASCAR said maybe we should let the teams play
with their own front shock absorbers -- do what ever they
wanted to do in the front. They felt maybe that would make
the cars handle better and they'd be able to race better.
That's what NASCAR did at Talladega and it looked like it
worked.
But NASCAR felt by giving the teams the ability to adjust
their cars with the shocks, it made the cars a little too
fast. So they mandated a smaller restrictor plate,
reducing it to the seventeenth of an inch we have now at
Daytona. And it looks like these cars are about a second
slower than they were in February.
So, I think the racing on Saturday night will be better. But, it'll be
slower.
|
|
|
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. -- Dale Jarrett got a jump on his quest for a third straight victory at Daytona and a piece of history Thursday night, winning the pole position for the Pepsi 400.
The defending Winston Cup champion drove his red, white and blue Ford around the 2.5-mile trioval at Daytona International Speedway at 187.547 mph.
By winning under the lights Saturday night, Jarrett would join Cale Yarborough as the only other driver to win three straight at NASCAR's most famous track. Yarborough completed the feat in July 1968, with a victory in what was known then as the Firecracker 400.
Jarrett will start alongside his Robert Yates Racing teammate, Ricky Rudd, who circled the track at 187.122 mph in the muggy night air.
Bill Elliott (186.865 mph) will start from the third position, meaning the top three spots on the starting grid will be the same as in the Daytona 500 in February.
But things have changed since then.
Most notably, the car Jarrett drove to victory at the Daytona 500 has been placed on display in the museum next to the track. His team had to rebuild its car for races at Daytona and Talladega, the two superspeedways that use restrictor plates on the carburetors to slow speeds.
Jarrett tested the new car at Daytona earlier this month and liked what he saw.
"Fans can go look at that car at Daytona USA and see almost a copy of the car we've got here," Jarrett said. "We did everything we could to make it a little better in the wind tunnel. We came here and backed it up on the race track."
Rookie Dave Blaney will start fourth and Mark Martin, who is winless at Daytona, will start fifth.
Series points leader Bobby Labonte will start in the 21st spot. Dale Earnhardt, who trails Labonte by 67 points, will start 18th.
Jeff Gordon failed to finish among the top 25 Thursday, and had to try again Friday, when he qualified to start 34th.
"It's a little more difficult starting from the back at Daytona than at Talladega," said Gordon, who won on Talladega's 2.66-mile track in April. "There's more room to race at Talladega. Handling is the key. Track position is important. We'll just have to find a way to get it up there."
Jarrett heads into the second half of the season in third place, 129 points behind Labonte, as he tries to defend his title.
|  | | Jarrett had a speed of 187.547 miles per hour to take the pole for Saturday night's running of the NASCAR Pepsi 400. |
Could there be a better place to build momentum than Daytona, where Jarrett has had the car and the luck to win twice in a row?
In last year's Pepsi 400, he took a quick splash of gas late,
then skirted the apron to save fuel as the race finished under the
yellow flag. Out of gas after he crossed the finish line, his crew
pushed him to Victory Lane.
In February, Jarrett opened defense of his Winston Cup title
with a victory thanks in part to a pair of late accidents and a
good closing push to overtake Johnny Benson. With that victory, he
became the seventh driver to win two in a row at Daytona.
The pole position is his third of the year and 10th of his
career.
"My job tonight was to get it into high gear without doing
anything wrong, then guide it around," Jarrett said. "It's the
easiest car I've had to drive."
Rusty Wallace failed in his effort to win a third straight pole
position. He took his lap with a light mist falling and will start
12th.
Practice was shortened and qualifying was delayed by 30 minutes
because of a steady rain that fell in the afternoon.
And while the heavy, humid air might have had an effect on the
cars, it wasn't as pronounced as the effect of the smaller
restrictor plates and new shock packages NASCAR has mandated this
year.
Jarrett's qualifying time was more than 7 mph slower than the
time Joe Nemechek posted last year to win the pole. Speeds at
Talladega and at the Daytona 500 in February were slower, as well.
NASCAR eased its restrictions on the shocks after a dull Daytona
500, but it might not have done enough.
"I don't think there are any big alarms at this point," NASCAR
senior vice president Mike Helton said. "We'll wait and see how
the races go" before considering more changes.
| |
ALSO SEE
Pepsi 400 lineup
Notebook: Petty hopes 63rd year will be kinder
Miffed Earnhardt vents over restrictor plates
Notebook: Waltrip says goodbye to Daytona
Weber: Nothing like a Daytona 'event'
NASCAR, tracks restore Irvan's burned trophies
Gordon adjusting to fewer boos, fewer victories
Pepsi 400 Breakdown
AUDIO/VIDEO
 Dale Jarrett knocks Ricky Rudd from the top spot.
avi: 965 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
Jarrett is glad that his team is on the front row.
avi: 872 k
RealVideo: 56.6 | ISDN | T1
 Ricky Rudd knew that Jarrett was the man to beat.
wav: 119 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Bill Elliott doesn't know where he got the extra half-second.
wav: 105 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Mark Martin knew that he couldn't keep the pole.
wav: 98 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Jarrett is looking forward to Saturday night.
wav: 117 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
Dale Earnhardt talks about his chances.
wav: 252 k
RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6
|
