Posted on 03/14/2003 4:45:25 PM PST by NormsRevenge
DARLINGTON, S.C. (AP) -- Elliott Sadler put up a fast lap early, then waited nervously as driver after driver came up short in qualifying for the Carolina Dodge Dealers 400.
The result Friday was Sadler's first pole in 146 Winston Cup races.
``It was pretty exciting to wait through all those cars,'' said Sadler, the 16th of 43 drivers qualifying at Darlington Raceway's demanding 1.366-mile oval.
Sadler, in only his fifth race with Robert Yates Racing, was the man to beat all day, leading practice in his No. 38 Ford despite running only five laps. He then backed it up with a lap of 170.147 mph in qualifying.
The 27-year-old Sadler, one of NASCAR's vaunted ``Young Guns,'' said a goal his new team set before the season was to win a pole.
``I was just a little surprised it came so soon,'' he said.
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Sadler said he and crew chief Raymond Fox, who also got his first pole, ``were a nervous wreck. We were sitting up in the truck and had the door slam locked and were nervous together.''
Once Sadler reached the top, though, nobody was able to beat him.
Ryan Newman, who won the pole a week earlier in Atlanta, came the closest at 169.374. The time difference between Sadler's Taurus and Newman's Dodge was 0.132 seconds.
``I just messed up the first lap getting into (Turns) 1 and 2 and didn't get the lap I wanted,'' said Newman, a 25-year-old driver and last year's leading pole winner with six. ``I'm happy for Elliott, getting his first one, but our Dodge was capable of winning the pole.''
It was Newman, 26th in the qualifying line, who made Sadler the most nervous.
``I didn't even want to hear his lap time,'' Sadler said, laughing. ``I just waited for the crowd reaction to find out how he did.''
One reason for Sadler's nerves was a history of coming close and being knocked off pole numerous times. He said one time in particular stood out.
``I got bit so bad by the bug at Texas,'' Sadler said. ``I was on the pole so long, and then Bill Elliott took it away from me. I never recovered from that instance.''
All those near-misses came while Sadler drove the past four years for the Wood Brothers. He said former car owner Eddie Wood was the first person to congratulate him Friday.
``There's a lot of good young guys on this race team, and I'm just glad I could get this pole for them,'' Sadler said.
Jerry Nadeau was third in a Pontiac at 169.170, followed by the Dodge of Jimmy Spencer at 169.088 and the Chevrolet of six-time Darlington winner and four-time Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon at 169.071.
Rounding out the top 10 were Kurt Busch at 168.984 in a Ford, the Dodges of Ward Burton and defending race winner Sterling Marlin at 168.926 and 168.816, the Chevy of Daytona 500 winner Michael Waltrip at 168.769 and the Ford of Todd Bodine -- the last driver of the day to qualify -- at 168.764.
Current series leader Matt Kenseth was 12th at 168.665, while Atlanta winner Bobby Labonte was 20th at 168.043. Labonte's teammate, Tony Stewart, who's second in the season points and is the defending series champion, was 28th at 167.619.
Three-time Darlington winner Dale Jarrett and two-time winner Jeff Burton had disappointing runs. Jarrett was 36th, while Burton was 38th and had to settle for a provisional starting position.
Rain, which washed away Busch Series and NASCAR Truck Series qualifying on Thursday, threatened to fall Friday but did not interrupt the Cup time trials.
``After (Newman) didn't beat us, the wind came up and it was getting cooler, and I was just wishing everybody would just take one qualifying lap and get it done with,'' Sadler said. ``But we made it.''
3/16/03 Sunday - Pre-Race show starts at 930 PT / 1230 ET
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BumP
Put me on the cup bump list, please.
viligantcitizen, You're on the list .. :-)
Who do you like driver(s) or team(s)-wise?
Does the 50th slot entrant have to pit on the infield? ( I don't mind if it is, mind you, It's closer to the beer coolers!)
Only at Talladega but no one wants to miss that party. I'm thinking we can have 50 teams in the group, click on Join Private Group on the fastasy auto racing page and join us. It does not effect your team just shows it with the rest of the group. A little head to head with other freepers adds a little fun.
Loss of race would cost state millions
NASCAR may move some races; S.C. track could lose one of two it hosts
By JIM McLAURIN
Staff Writer
DARLINGTON - William Knox, co-manager of the Bi-Lo down the street from Darlington Raceway, treats the track's two racing weekends a year like a big picnic.
"All your grilling-type items - steak, barbecue sauce - anything you can throw on a grill, the sales of it will increase on a race weekend," Knox said.
Throw in the price of more than 60,000 race tickets (from $45-$125), plus parking, hotel rooms, T-shirts and driver caps, and you get an idea of how much a weekend at the races is worth to the local economy.
Knox and many others in the seven-county Pee Dee area might be missing a lot of income next year if NASCAR decides to take away Darlington Raceway's spring race.
On Jan. 21, Bill France Jr., who runs NASCAR and the International Speedway Corp., which owns Darlington Raceway, put several tracks on notice: Be better or be gone.
France pointed to Darlington and Rockingham, N.C., as well as Atlanta and several others, as tracks thatmight have to give up one of their races to better-performing tracks if business doesn't pick up.
Several tracks in bigger markets - such as California Speedway in Fontana, Calif., and Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. - have only one race and want another one. Another new track, Kentucky Speedway outside Cincinnati, is seeking its first Winston Cup race.
Losing a race at Darlington would leave a big hole in the South Carolina economy, Gov. Mark Sanford said.
"What you're looking at is about $50 million of additional economic activity that comes as a result of these races taking place," Sanford said. "The math is real simple. If you don't have the race, the $50 million disappears, period."
The loss of a Darlington race, according to Tom Regan, chairman of the University of South Carolina's Sports and Entertainment Management Department, would be more keenly felt.
"It's all new money," Regan said. "A very small percentage of the fans are from that area. If you get 100,000 people in there, if 10,000 are from the Pee Dee, you're doing good. The (majority of the) people at Darlington are coming from 34 states and four nations, who would never, ever be in the Pee Dee for any other reason."
The impact won't be felt by just the motels and restaurants. Temporary workers come from all over the area to fill a variety of roles at the race - everything from picking up trash and parking cars to serving food in the concession stands, even to providing music in the "hospitality villages."
"It's going to have a very large trickle-down effect," said Fran Willis, of the Pee Dee Tourism Commission. "It's not just the chain motels... . Because it's a gated event, part of the ticket price (2 percent) goes to the admissions tax, at the state level. That is used, in turn, for grant funding for statewide events or regional tourism offices. That money would be cut."
The nickels and dimes taken in at the mom-and-pop motels and restaurants, the privately owned parking areas near the track, and locally owned burger joints and souvenir outlets, all add up.
Darlington Raceway president Andrew Gurtis believes that should the spring race be taken away, the Southern 500 weekend on Labor Day would become a bigger event, and some of that money will come back into the community.
"At that point, the Sunday race sells out, the Saturday Busch race grows, and the Friday truck race grows, and we get back on the building curve of putting up seats each year to accommodate the demand," he said. "I think we'd make up that ground slowly by having sold-out events and the growth of the support events."
Regan, who just completed a study of the economic impact of the race, doesn't necessarily buy into that theory.
"If anything is lost, it won't be back," he said. "I don't care if it's the Heritage, the Family Circle, or Darlington. If you lose it ... just go up and ask the people in North Wilkesboro if they miss it."
Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president for corporate communications and former Darlington Raceway president, said it's premature to assume Darlington will lose a race in 2004.
"People who are hearing about realignment and schedule changes automatically think that Darlington is going to lose a race," Hunter said. "I don't think that's the case.
"But after we talk to all the tracks and work out the schedule, Darlington and Rockingham are certainly among the tracks that are candidates, due to the fact that they don't sell (all) the tickets."
Regan said losing a race also would hurt the state's prestige.
"This is our major league," Regan said. "We're not a dirt track. (NASCAR) is the fastest-growing sport, and we've got the major league teams sitting right there two times a year. We've got the all-star game twice a year. And we've had it longer than anybody else.
"You look at other states: We don't have an Atlanta, where you have a Georgia Dome. You're sitting in a small state, a fairly poor state, that has some great events - tier-1 level. You can't get any better."
This weekend, Knox and many in the Pee Dee area could only estimate how much race fans would spend at the NASCAR triple-header at Darlington. But they know that by Sunday night, the coffers will be full.
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