40 and 41 Bristol qualifying report

BRISTOL, Tenn. (March 22, 2002) - The No. 40 Coors Light and No. 41 Target teams of Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates secured top-20 starting positions for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.  
 
Jimmy Spencer, driver of the No. 41 Target Dodge Intrepid R/T, continued his good qualifying streak running a fast lap of 15.173 seconds (126.461 mph), placing the Target Dodge fourth in the lineup.  This is Team Target's fourth straight top-10 qualifying effort.  Spencer's previous best qualifying effort at Bristol Motor Speedway came in April 1997 when he qualified 10th.  
 
"I'm real proud of this Target team," Spencer said.  "We've really been qualifying well.  I can't say enough about the team.  We didn't run well in practice, but I was overdriving in the corner.  If I had to do it over, I believe I could have run a tenth quicker.  We picked up two or three tenths from practice."
 
Sterling Marlin, driver of the No. 40 Coors Light Dodge Intrepid R/T, ran a 15.325-second lap time (125.207 mph), placing him in the 16th starting position for Sunday's event.  In his last race at Bristol Motor Speedway (8/25/01), Marlin started 17th and finished ninth. 
 
"We slowed down about a tenth," Marlin said.  "The car didn't grip like it did before.  The front end just wouldn't stick.  I think we'll be OK for the race.  I don't think we're starting too far back.  You couldn't start and further back than we did last week (Darlington) and we did OK.  Of course, this is Bristol and it's hard to pass.  You want to get up front as quick as you can so you can stay out of trouble, or at least try to stay out of trouble."  
 
The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will be broadcast on FOX on Sunday, March 24 at 1:00 p.m., e.s.t.