|
|
 |
 |
  |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Video Plus Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities 
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
First-timer Compton leads Dodge brigade to Talladega pole
Updated: Sunday April 22, 2001 10:16 AM
By Stephen Thomas, CNNSI.com TALLADEGA, Ala. -- Clearly, in its effort to return to Winston Cup racing with a bang, Dodge spent way too much energy preparing its cars for superspeedways. Okay, so the car doesn't do a whole lot at any of the 20 other tracks that aren't oval shaped and at least 2 1/2 miles long, but at the three that are? Look out! Yes, time will tell if Dodge has Indy (the third 2 1/2 mile oval) wired or not, but Daytona? Talladega? Say good night, Gracie. In a virtual replay of the dominance it showed at Daytona, Dodge thoroughly owned qualifying, taking the top three spots for Sunday's Talladega 500. At Daytona, the starting order was Bill Elliott, Stacy Compton and Sterling Marlin. This Sunday, in the sequel at Talladega, it will be Compton, Marlin and Elliott, followed by Ricky Craven and Mark Martin. Compton, a second-year driver who started 13th here last fall, took the pole with a speed of 184.861 mph. It was the slowest pole-winning speed in Talladega history. Take away Daytona, and Compton's best start prior to this was 22nd at Martinsville.
"It may have been the slowest, but it was still the fastest today which was good enough," Compton said. "We knew we could run decent, but some pretty heavy hitters came up after we qualified." Compton was referring to the likes of Craven, far and away the quickest in morning practice, and Dale Jarrett, another driver who had been considerably faster than the No. 92 car in practice and the current points leader. However, Compton's lap, which he put up as the 20th car on the track, stood while Jarrett settled for sixth. "We knew Jarrett was going to be tough and Craven, too, but we gave 110 percent ... this is pretty cool." As pleased as Compton was at having taken the first pole of his career (and the first for team owner Mark Melling since 1991), Talladega is a track at which starting position simply doesn't mean much. That's due mostly to the controversial rules package that NASCAR put in place for last fall's race at Talladega. "There's no advantage starting up front," Marlin said. "None. We started third at Daytona, and looked up the first 10 laps and guys that started 40th were up there beating and banging. It doesn't make any difference here where you start. That's what's aggravating. You can have the best car here and if you don't have help, you're sunk."
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
