Darlington normally isn't a place Winston
Cup driver's relish when it comes to qualifying. The
high speeds on the egg-shaped oval make it the most
difficult lap of the season.
On Friday, near 100-degree heat made
the "track too tough to tame" even more slippery and that
spelled big trouble. About a half dozen Busch cars
crashed during a qualifying session that immediately
preceded the Winston Cup qualifying. A few Cup drivers
did the same thing.
With that knowledge #10 Valvoline
Pontiac driver Johnny Benson went out ninth of the 44 cars
in Darlington and still stood on the throttle turning in a
very fast lap.
"We made it through one and two pretty
good, and I was a little concerned about three and four but
it was pretty good also, Benson said. "We came out OK. It
beats flattening the right side of the car like a lot of
people did in the Busch Series today."
Benson will start 11th for the final
500-mile race on Labor Day weekend at Darlington. Next year
this race moves to November with a second California race
taking the Labor Day date.
"We wanted to qualify well here this
weekend and I think we did that," Benson said. "Lately we
have raced a lot better than we have qualified so I'm pretty
optimistic about Sunday. It's a very long race where
survival will be the key. The heat won't help but I think we
will be fine."
Ryan Newman won the pole with Jimmie
Johnson on the outside of the front row.
Darlington Starting Lineup
1. Newman
2. Johnson
3. T. Labonte
4. E. Sadler
5. B. Labonte
6. Kenseth
7. Martin
8. Craven
9. Biffle
10. Blaney
11. Benson
12. Earnhardt
13. Marlin
14. Gordon
15.Skinner
16Skinner
17. McMurray
18. Harvick
19. Jarrett
20. Stewart
21. Mears
22. Elliott
23. Fittipaldi
24. K. Wallace
25. R.Gordon
26. Nemechek
27. Bodine
28. Burton
29. Burton
30. Rudd
31. Busch
32. Park
33. Raines
34. R.Wallace
35. Green
36. Leffler
37Waltrip
38 Spencer
39 Schrader
40 Petty
41 Lepage
42 Cope
43H. Sadler
Missed Race
Foyt
