Schrader gets second Talladega Pole

fastest, Ken Schrader beat four dozen other drivers to win the pole for Sunday's Diehard 500 NASCAR Winston Cup race here.

22nd fastest in practice, Schrader ripped a 48.421-second tour at 197.765
mph to reassert his early career reputation as a superspeedway driving
expert. The Chevrolet veteran, who was the 25th driver to take a time,
set pole speed on his first lap and nailed it down on the second. It's
his second consecutive pole at this track, where he won his first Cup
race. Twin laps are needed at restrictor plate tracks to achieve full
speed

"The driver still didn't do much today," said Schrader, who joined a
dozen top qualifiers in complimenting their team's work. "Here, if you
can start up front it usually means you have a good car."

Defending event and pole champion Bobby Labonte surprised himself with a
48.489s/197.488 mph tour that gave him an outside front row starting spot.

"That's a little quicker than I thought we'd run," said the younger of
the racing Labontes. "This has been a good place for me."

Points leader Jeff Burton posted notice he likes it at the top, claiming
third with a 48.547/197.252 mph.

"That's one and a half seconds better than we tested here," said Burton,
who said he left that session discouraged. "The crew hung a whole new
body on this car when we got back to the shop."

Burton was joined by Joe Nemechek (4th) in breaking the 197 mph mark.
Rusty Wallace, second-fast in practice, rounded out the top five.

Mark Martin, Ricky Rudd, Tony Stewart, Chad Little and Michael Waltrip
round out the top ten.

This event marks a big transition in the Winston Cup season. The brief
short track season is over. Very over. The track within Talladega's
five-story high banks is 450% longer than last week's exercise at
Martinsville. Yet NASCAR restricts engine power at this monster of a
superspeedway because of the awesome draft in which cars can run at
nearly 200 mph with virtually half the horsepower. The cars go from the
slowest to fastest track in one week.

Kyle Petty is having an interesting 'dega experience. Petty took pole -
a flagpole - during recent testing, smashing the snout of his Pontiac and
knocking down the permanent fixture. Petty clipped the turn four wall
twice in his second lap today and aborted the run. Petty failed to make
the field with a 49.979s warmup lap. He and others try again Saturday.

The Richard Childress/Dale Earnhardt cars - usually a front row fixture
on these aerodynamically-critical tracks - were unspectacular in the heat
and humidity of a sunny afternoon. Mike Skinner will start 12th,
Earnhardt 17th, and his driver, Steve Park, failed to make top 25.

Reigning Winston Cup Champion Jeff Gordon starts 13th. Darrell Waltrip
was just good enough for 41st after two consecutive races in which he
qualified in the first round.




ROW 1

1 33 Ken Schrader Skoal Racing Chev 0:48.421 197.765

2 18 Bobby Labonte Interstate Batteries Pont 0:48.489 197.488

ROW 2

3 99 Jeff Burton Exide Batteries Ford 0:48.547 197.252

4 42 Joe Nemechek BellSouth Chev 0:48.563 197.187

ROW 3

5 2 Rusty Wallace Miller Lite Ford 0:48.704 196.616

6 6 Mark Martin Valvoline Ford 0:48.712 196.584

ROW 4

7 10 Ricky Rudd Tide Ford 0:48.767 196.362

8 20 *Tony Stewart Home Depot Pont 0:48.771 196.346

ROW 5

9 97 Chad Little John Deere Ford 0:48.841 196.065

10 7 Michael Waltrip Phillips Consumer Ford 0:48.860 195.989

ROW 6

11 25 Wally Dallenbach Budweiser Chev 0:48.866 195.964

12 31 Mike Skinner Lowe's Chev 0:48.873 195.936

ROW 7

13 24 Jeff Gordon DuPont Chev 0:48.887 195.880

14 40 Sterling Marlin Coors Light Chev 0:48.940 195.668

ROW 8

15 55 Kenny Wallace Square D Chev 0:48.966 195.564

16 16 Kevin Lepage TV Guide/Primestar Ford 0:48.986 195.484

ROW 9

17 3 Dale Earnhardt GM Goodwrench Serv + Chev 0:48.989 195.472

18 94 Bill Elliott McDonald's Ford 0:49.012 195.381

ROW 10

19 36 Ernie Irvan M&M's Pont 0:49.033 195.297

20 9 Jerry Nadeau WCW Ford 0:49.034 195.293

ROW 11

21 98 Rick Mast Yarborough Burdette Ford 0:49.037 195.281

22 28 Kenny Irwin Texaco Havoline Ford 0:49.041 195.265

ROW 12

23 88 Dale Jarrett Quality Care Ford 0:49.048 195.237

24 43 John Andretti STP Pont 0:49.056 195.205

ROW 13

25 22 Ward Burton Caterpillar Pont 0:49.137 194.884

DID NOT QUALIFY:

26 5 Terry Labonte Kellogg's Chev 0:49.150 194.832

27 26 Johnny Benson Cheerios Ford 0:49.232 194.508

28 60 Geoffrey Bodine Power Team Chev 0:49.256 194.413

29 1 Steve Park Pennzoil Chev 0:49.273 194.346

30 12 Jeremy Mayfield Mobil 1 Ford 0:49.328 194.129

31 71 Dave Marcis RealTree Chev 0:49.356 194.019

32 23 Jimmy Spencer Winston/No Bull Ford 0:49.386 193.901

33 41 David Green Kodiak Chev 0:49.403 193.834

34 4 Bobby Hamilton Kodak Chev 0:49.440 193.689

35 58 Ricky Craven Hollywood Video Ford 0:49.489 193.498

36 77 Robert Pressley Jasper Engines Ford 0:49.495 193.474

37 45 Rich Bickle 10-10-345 Pont 0:49.506 193.431

38 00 *Buckshot Jones Crown Fiber Comm. Pont 0:49.555 193.240

39 11 Brett Bodine Paychex Ford 0:49.607 193.037

40 30 Derrike Cope Bryan Foods Pont 0:49.849 192.100

41 66 Darrell Waltrip Big Kmart Ford 0:49.886 191.958

42 84 Ken Bouchard Island Oasis Chev 0:49.908 191.873

43 44 Kyle Petty Hot Wheels Pont 0:49.979 191.600

44 75 Ted Musgrave Polaris ATV's Ford 0:50.028 191.413

45 91 Dick Trickle Little Joe's Auto Chev 0:50.051 191.325

46 21 *Elliot Sadler Citgo Ford 0:50.367 190.124

47 90 Loy Allen Suburban Lodge Ford 0:51.108 187.368

48 50 *Dan Pardus Midwest Transit Chev DNS

*Raybestos Rookie-of-the-Year contender

Track Length : 2.6600 Miles