NASCAR Winston Cup Series NAPA 500: Geoff Bodine on Pole

16 November 1997

HAMPTON, GA -- To borrow a baseball phrase - HOLY COW!! - Geoff Bodine will be
on the pole for the NAPA 500 after he ran a - 197.478 mile per hour lap. The
lap, that came close to shattering the 28 second catagory, came in at 28.074
second tour of the 1.54 mile track. This oblitherates the 186.507 track record
held by Robby Gordon .

Sitting on the outside of row one is Ward Burton in the MBNA Pontiac. Burton
got the spot after he ran an impressive 28.365 second lap - at a 195.452 mile
per hour clip.

The drivers that will round out the top-five are championship contender - Dale
Jarrett; Terry Labonte; and Joe Nemechek.

The points leader, Jeff Gordon, who wrecked his primary car during practice,
will roll off a disappointing 37th after he bobbled going through turns one &
two.

Mark Martin, who is also in the points hunt will roll off 9th in Sunday's NAPA
500.

The drivers that will take provisional entries are Jeff Burton, Bobby
Hamilton, Ricky Craven, Jimmy Spencer and Darrell Waltrip.

Mike Snow -- The Auto Channel