Jarrett surprise pole winner at Las Vegas

Friday, Feb. 27, 1998 | 6:03 a.m.

Dale Jarrett could only chuckle and shake his head in wonder Friday after winning the pole position for the inaugural Las Vegas 400.

Jarrett isn't known as a great qualifier, and his chief goal in the opening round of time trials for Sunday's inaugural Winston Cup race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway was to "make it into the top 25."

That was no problem as he drove his Robert Yates Ford Taurus around the slightly banked 1 1/2 -mile oval at a surprising 168.224 mph, easily the quickest lap turned in since practice opened at the track on Thursday.

Until Jarrett went out late in the 51-car session, it appeared Geoff Bodine would have the honor of the first Winston Cup pole at Las Vegas. His lap of 167.411 seemed untouchable until Jarrett's surprising run.

"It blew me away that we could do that," Jarrett said. "When we saw he (Bodine) did that, I just shook my head. I didn't think anybody could do that, and I sure didn't think I would have any chance of knocking him off.

"You know, it cooled off quite a bit and we were lucky to get a late draw. But this was much faster than we anticipated running."

The pole was the sixth of Jarrett's career, all of them coming since 1996.

As expected, Fords were particularly strong in qualifying, sweeping the front row and taking five of the top seven spots.

Ward Burton's Pontiac Grand Prix was third at 166.806, followed by the Ford of Bill Elliott at 166.723, the Chevrolet Monte Carlo of Jeff Gordon - last week's winner at Rockingham and the defending series champion - at 166.605, and the Fords of Rick Mast and Mark Martin at 166.590 and 166.272.

Some credit Ford's strong showing to a recent rule change by NASCAR, which may give the Tauruses a slight aerodynamic advantage. But Jarrett said, "You've got a lot of good Ford teams. I think that's the biggest reason. The Taurus is awfully good. We've had a few weeks to work with it and we're making it better and better."

Current series leader Rusty Wallace was 10th in a Taurus at 166.001, while Daytona 500 winner Dale Earnhardt, who trails Wallace in the standings by just 33 points, just missed the top 25 at 164.860.

Wally Dallenbach Jr., a member of Team Sabco, was 25th at 164.901, clinching a starting spot after failing to qualifying for the first two races this season.

Drivers too slow to be in the top 25 will have another opportunity to make the 43-car field, either by standing on their Friday lap or trying again on Saturday.

Among the drivers who will have to make that decision are Ken Schrader, rookie leader and Jarrett teammate Kenny Irwin, Jeremy Mayfield, Jimmy Spencer, rookie Steve Park, Ricky Craven, Dave Marcis and Todd Bodine, who has yet to make a starting field this season.