Talladega Racing : Elliott Breaks His Own Qualifying Speed Record

Bill Elliott broke his own all-time stock car qualifying mark Thursday en route to winning the pole position for Sunday’s Winston 500 NASCAR stock car race.

The driver from Dawsonville, Ga., earned his fifth consecutive pole at Alabama International Motor Speedway with his fast lap averaging 212.809 m.p.h.

That 44.998-second trip around Talladega’s 2.66-mile, high-banked oval broke the record of 212.229 that Elliott set in qualifying for this race last May.

Bobby Allison, the defending champion, was second to Elliott’s Ford Thunderbird in a Buick LeSabre that turned a lap of 211.797.

Davey Allison, Bobby’s son and one of the drivers expected to battle Elliott for the pole, wound up third at 210.610 in another Thunderbird after blowing his qualifying engine in practice earlier in the day.

Three-time Winston Cup champion Darrell Waltrip, driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS, was fourth at 210.471, followed by the Chevy of defending Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt at 210.194. Earnhardt has four straight victories and an unprecedented six in the first eight races.

“It never gets easier,” Elliott said. “Every time you do this it keeps getting harder. Sometime, you’re not going to be able to do it and somebody else will come along. You just go out there each time and do the best you can.”

The qualifying session, which determined the top 20 starters for Sunday’s 500-mile race, was run in temperatures in the high 80s.

Despite the heat, though, only 4 of the 41 drivers who made one-lap qualifying runs Thursday were under 200 m.p.h.

It took a lap of 207.659, by Benny Parsons, just to make the top 20.