Jeff Purvis is determined to prove that he is a Championship contender on
Busch Grand National Division circuit, despite the fact that he is
sponsorless and he is working with only 6 team/crew members. Purvis
set the fast speed of 121.114.
For the second time in the first three 1996 Busch Series events, Purvis sits atop the pole position for the running of the Hardee's Fried Chicken Challenge 250 to be run Saturday.
Purvis will attempt to be the third driver to win this race from the pole position, only Sam Ard ('82) and Michael Waltrip ('90) have accomplished the feat before.
The Clarksville, TN native has never won on the Busch Series in 27 career starts.
This is his fourth Busch pole, the most recent coming at Daytona this year.
The Phoenix Construction team will run the full Busch Series for the first time.
He has 3 top-5 and 6 top-10 finishes and $140,777 in career Busch earnings,
$17,767 of which has come this year. He is coming off a strong third place
finish in last weeks Goodwrench Service 200 at Rockingham, NC.
He finished a disappointing 23rd in the Goody's 300 at Daytona.
Dennis Setzer had a good run and put the Lipton Tea Thunderbird on the outside pole position with a speed of 120.811 mph. Setzer, in his third full year of Busch Series racing, is in the car 1995 Busch Series Champion Johnny Benson finished third in at Richmond last year. Setzer took over the ride with the Akins-Sutton team after Benson graduated to the Winston Cup tour in the Pennzoil ride.
Setzer has two career wins on the Busch circuit, both coming in his rookie year, when he finished second to the 1994 ROTY - Johnny Benson. Setzer holds the distinction of being the only Busch rookie to win two races in their inaugural season.
Elton Sawyer qualified the car he co-owns with his wife, Patty Moise due to torn ligaments in her left leg, suffered during the wreck she was involved with during the Goodwrench Service 200 at Rockingham last Saturday. She is expected to start the race, for championship points. Elton will be ready if needed.
53 cars attempted to qualify for the Hardee's Fried Chicken Challenge 250.
