Wallace Ends Pole Drought At Food City
Rusty Wallace won the pole Friday for Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn., ending a drought of nearly three years without a top starting spot on the Winston Cup circuit.
“What a neat deal. It feels great to get one again, especially at this place,” said Wallace, whose first career victory in stock car racing’s premier series came at Bristol in 1986.
Since then, he has won 46 more races, including five on Bristol’s .533-mile, high-banked concrete oval. Friday’s pole was his 18th, but first since June 1994 in Long Pond, Pa. - a span of 86 races.
“Yeah, and I also won the race that time, too,” he said. “I guess I’m just a better racer than I am a qualifier.”
Wallace won this pole by guiding his Ford to a fast lap of 123.586 mph in a qualifying session that looked as if it would produce an all-Wallace front row.
Kenny Wallace, who went out shortly after his older brother, posted a 123.134, also in a Ford. It stood up until late as the second-fastest speed.
But Sterling Marlin and Ted Musgrave, among the last of the 47 drivers to take part in the time trials, posted faster speeds than Kenny Wallace.
Spokane’s Chad Little qualified with a 121.520. He will start 21st.
Sadler gets Busch pole
Hermie Sadler got his second career NASCAR Busch Grand National pole, edging Mike McLaughlin for the top starting spot in the Moore’s Snacks 250 at Bristol.
“It didn’t feel like that great of a lap,” Sadler said after posting a top speed of 120.938 mph in his Chevrolet.
Today’s 250-lap event will be the 119th consecutive start on the Grand National circuit for Sadler, a streak dating to Oct. 24, 1992. His only other pole came last July at Milwaukee. He has two victories, but none since April 1994.
De Ferran sets Long Beach record
Gil de Ferran stole the spotlight from Alex Zanardi, at least temporarily, in the opening round of qualifying for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach in California.
De Ferran, who set a track qualifying mark of 109.639 mph last year while driving for Jim Hall, switched to Walker Racing during the winter, but continued his mastery of the 1.59-mile, eight-turn temporary street circuit with a record-breaking lap of 111.313.
“We took a little bit of what we learned here last year, a little bit of what we learned last week in Australia and a little bit of what we learned in winter testing, put it all in a cup and shook it up,” the Brazilian driver said. “We ended up with a setup that suits my driving style.”
De Ferran took the provisional pole for Sunday’s race in a Honda-powered Reynard, while Mauricio Gugelmin made it an all-Brazilian provisional front row with a lap of 110.341 in a Honda-Mercedes.
Zanardi, who is riding record strings of six consecutive poles and 10 straight front-row starts, was a disappointing - for him - third at 110.133 in a Reynard-Honda.
Andretti Sr. pondered return
Mario Andretti, who retired from the CART series following the 1994 season, was nearly back in an Indy-car for this weekend’s Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach.
The 57-year-old Andretti, a four-time Indy-car champion with 52 career victories, has limited his professional driving in the past two years to appearances in a sports car at the 24 Hours of LeMans.
When Christian Fittipaldi fractured his right leg in the race last Sunday in Surfers Paradise, Australia, it opened a temporary ride with Newman-Haas Racing.
“Sure, I thought about it,” Andretti said Friday, while waiting for his eldest son, Michael, to qualify the other team car for Newman-Haas. “There were a lot of pros and cons. They (team co-owners Carl Haas and Paul Newman) were worried about me getting hurt, and there were some other considerations. I decided Tuesday night I really wanted to do it, but by then it was too late.”
By Tuesday, Haas had hired Roberto Moreno as a temporary replacement.