Sharpie 500 Qualifying
08/23/02
–
Bristol-Night qualifying is an
amazing thing to see. You have 43-51
cars trying to qualify for 43 spots.
It's just amazing!
This year’s qualifying at Bristol
for the night race, the Sharpie 500, was one of the coolest things that I have
ever seen. Some part-time cars had come
to try to make the race, the #02, #27-Wimmer, #49-Cope, #51, #71, #89, and #90
were all there.
This race marked the first time that the #90 was
back on the track since Daytona qualifying for the Pepsi 400, another night
race. This weekend, Lance Hooper was in
the #90 car with the sponsor LUCUS Oil on the car. It was amazing that the #90 had a sponsor. The last "major" sponsor,
Duke's/Sauer's, left the team after Pocono1.
Rick Mast had been driving the #90 until right after "The
Winston" at Charlotte, when he had to take a leave because of illness.
Qualifying started a little late because of a quick
shower that wet the speedway. After the
jet dryers dried the track, the first car, the #20, pulled out of the
pits. The first car to have trouble on
the track was Ken Schrader in the #36 M&M's "Purple"
Pontiac. Coming out of Turn 2 on his
first lap, he looped the car and was going to try to make the show on speed
with his second lap, but didn't try. He
had flat-spotted one of his rear-end tires and decided not to run a second lap
because he might blow the tire and crash into the wall. The second car to find trouble on the track
was the #77 Jasper Ford of Dave Blaney.
On his first lap, he spun the car in Turn 4 but didn't hit
anything. He then drove the car the
wrong way back to Turn 2, turned around, and was able to make the second lap
and get into the race on speed. The
third, and last, car to lose it on the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway,
was the #21 Motorcraft Ford of Elliot Sadler.
He was loose coming into Turn 1 on his second lap and then lost it in
Turn 2 spinning down the back straightaway coming to rest at the end of the
backstretch pit-road suffering minor damage.
He was the only driver to make contact with the wall during
qualifying. Bill Elliott had the pole
for a long time until Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in the #8 took it from him. Soon after that, the pole sitter for the
Sharpie 500, Jeff Gordon (#24), took the track and the pole. He was able to hold on while the last couple
of drivers tried to take the pole from him, but failed.
After qualifying had ended, I went down to the AOL
Internet trailer to see what teams made the race with a provisional, and which
teams had to go home. I found out that
the #02, #51, #71, and the #89 all had to go home. Amazingly, the #90 made the race on a provisional starting in
43rd place. The only reason that was
possible was because of all of the races that Rick Mast had driven earlier in
the season in the #90, gaining points towards the Owners Standings, which in
turn had the #90 higher in the standings than the cars that went home. The #90 still had one provisional left. If the team hadn’t had any left, the #02 or
the #71 would have been in the race instead on the #90.
Well, that ends my report on the
Sharpie 500 Qualifying at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN. I had a lot of fun watching qualifying and
writing this; so, I hope all of you out there in Cyber Space have fun reading
this as well.
This is James Mast signing out. Have fun everybody!!
We miss you Rick!! Get well soon!!