Allison Drives 13 Laps in Practice at Talladega

Six days after he was injured in a spectacular crash at Pocono International Raceway, Davey Allison drove 13 practice laps Saturday and plans to start the DieHard 500 today at Talladega, Ala.

After spending most of the week in a hospital at Allentown, Pa., Allison needed to take at least one practice lap in order to start the race.

“I went out this morning, ran a few laps by myself and everything felt good and comfortable,” said Allison, wearing a specially built cast on his injured right arm and dark glasses to shield two black eyes.

Allison ran 10 of the 13 laps at speed, turning one of those laps at more than 189 m.p.h., as well as running four laps in a seven-car pack.

Bobby Hillin Jr. qualified Allison’s car third in the 40-car field at 190.257, and is expected to get back behind the wheel sometime after Allison takes the green flag in order to earn Winston Cup championship points.