With a number of minor changes, Sauter set out to at least set a speed of 174-175 mph.
To their surprise, Sauter qualified the car at a speed of 184.106. When commenting following his qualifying attempt, Sauter was emotional when describing the gesture on Marcis's part and what it meant to him.
They realize that to get in the 500 Sauter will have to finish in the top 15 in the second Twin-125 race - since his qualifying time likely isn't good enough to do so - but Sauter is very grateful simply to have a chance to compete.
As independant, Dave Marcis has struggled over the years to stay in Winston Cup racing and it is very gratifying to see that Prodigy is backing him with solid sponsorship this year.
Marcis seeks to extend his record as the driver with the most consecutive Daytona 500 starts. If he qualifies, this would be Marcis' 29th consecutive Daytona 500.
Another veteran driver getting another chance this year is Dick Trickle. The Wisconsin Rapids, Wi native is competing this week with the #63 Schnell Motorsports team with sponsorship from the Purina Hi Pro dog food brand.
Trickle drove the 1995 season with Bud Moore and Quality Care, but when Quality Care moved over the the #88 Robert Yates - Dale Jarrett combination Moore was without a sponsor and Trickle without a ride.
After numerous offers to drive in the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series, Trickle decided that he would work as a "free agent" and remain dedicated to the Winston Cup circuit. With that in mind, he actively pursued opportunities with the teams without drivers. Trickle lines up besides Jay Sauter on the 12th row in the second Twin-125 race Thursday.
Team owner Brittan Schnell, a Huntersville, Nc resident has been working for one and half years to put this team together. "It came up awfully quick," said Schnell, "but we've risen to the challenge and there's no turning back now. We are working on an opportunity to run a full season, but we do not have it finalized yet. At this time we are pleased to announce this sponsorship with Purina. The whole team has shaped up well, however, and we are really looking forward to having Dick Trickle in our cars. He's got the name, the personaility, and the driving ability that we need to make this race team a success, and have a great race at Daytona."
"We are excited about this new opportunity," said John Linker, Atlanta region business development manager for Ralston Purina. "The partnership between Purina Hi-Pro and Schnell Motorpsorts works well with our upcoming 'Drive Like a Pro' sweepstakes, and serves as good groundwork for merchandising with our customers to reach the NASCAR fan."
Chevy teams dominated the top 11 positions during qualifying and had 17 Monte Carlos in the top-20.
Before learning of his time being disallowed due to an illegal spoiler angle, Jeff Green, driver of the GM Goodwrench Services Monte Carlo was surprised at his time. :I never thought we'd run that fast. In fact, if somebody had bet me $100 I wouldn't have run a 48-flat, I wouldn't have taken the bet. The crew gave me a great car. I just put it (the gas pedal) on the mat and let it eat. It was a good lap, but I'd like to be on the pole."
Prior to a driver making a qualifying attemp, NASCAR officials peerform a number of procedures - specifically - they check the height of the spoiler as well as the degree of angle that it is set at. The permissible angle is 45 degrees. Presumably, Green's spoiler was legal as he started his qualifying run. The same procedures are performed as sonn as the driver brings the car back onto pit road following the attempt. In Green's case, his spoiler was found to be set at 40 degrees.
NASCAR officials decided to disallow his time, but they have given him the OK to reattempt to qualify for the Goody's 300 Wednesday afternoon during second round quailifying.
Joe Nemechek qualified the BellSouth Mobility Monte Carlo on the oustide pole for he Goody' 300. "The BellSouth Mobility car has been running good. Ever since the first time wee unloaded it for testing it's been running good here. We're just making calculated moves. We put them all together for qualifying, to see what it would do, and it ran real good. I've never had a pole here. I've been outside pole two or three times and always get bumped off by just a tiny bit. Saturday, I think we're going to have a real good car. We're going to get some good cars hooked up ogether and we should be going pretty good.
Steve Grissom is debuting the new paint of the World Championship Wrestling organization on his #29 Monte Carlo which he quailified in the forth position for the Goody's 300. "We hadn't run this quickly. We were trying to see how much tape we could get away with. The motor still got a little hot on the second lap. This the same car we brought here last year, when we got within a quarter of a lap of maybe winning the thing. We just put a new body on it. We took it to Talladega and wrecked, too. Maybe the third time will be a charm.
