Driver Battles Mental, Physical Pain : Auto racing: Davey Allison, still recovering from Pocono crash, will try to put brother’s death out of his mind in Michigan today.

Davey Allison, hampered by thoughts of his brother’s death and by the aches and pains from a crash last month, will start third today in the Champion Spark Plug 400 at Michigan International Speedway.

Allison’s younger brother, Clifford, died Thursday from injuries suffered in a crash earlier that day in practice for another race on the same two-mile Michigan oval. Davey Allison qualified for the 41-car lineup behind only pole-winner Alan Kulwicki and Mark Martin.

In two Winston Cup races since his accident at Pocono International, Allison has needed a relief driver. This time, however, he insists he will try to go all the way, although Jim Sauter will be standing by during the 200-lap race.

Allison, who said he didn’t want to talk about his brother’s death, said he has to work on getting back the good feeling he had in his race car before his crash.

“Honestly, I don’t have a lot of self-confidence right now,” he said. “I need some time to get myself tuned back up.”

Larry McReynolds, his crew chief, said: “Our hearts, our thoughts, our feelings and our prayers are with Davey, his entire family, Clifford’s family. I heard Alan Kulwicki say this morning that it was hard for him to celebrate his pole yesterday knowing what was going on . . . but we all have a job to do, and nobody knows that better than Davey.

“It’s just like when his dad (Bobby) got hurt in 1988. He didn’t know anything about his dad’s condition, but Davey went on and finished in the top five that day. Then he went on and poured out his emotions after his job was done, and he took care of what needed to be taken care of.

“That’s what we’re here to do this weekend. We’re going to try to win this race and, when it’s over, we’re going to Alabama and pour our hearts and feelings and hopefully our help out to the Allison family.”

Allison comes into the event trailing Winston Cup point leader Bill Elliott by 17 points. Elliott said that Allison remains the man to beat.

“We’re decent, but as good as Davey was up here last time (winning in June), and the way he’s running this weekend, he’s going to be hard to beat,” Elliott said. “You get on a roll like he’s on and it’s hard to stop it, even with what he’s been through.”

Another driver who has had a difficult weekend is two-time defending Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, who will start last today.

Earnhardt had only the 27th best lap Friday in the opening session of qualifying. He improved on that Saturday, apparently leading the session with a lap of more than 176 m.p.h. But the speed was disallowed after NASCAR inspectors found the roof of his Chevrolet Lumina was too low.

Gary Nelson, NASCAR’s technical director, said no intent to deceive was found and that the speed was simply disallowed, forcing Earnhardt to use a provisional start to make the lineup.

“We were low,” said Richard Childress, the owner of Earnhardt’s car. “We don’t know how or why we got low, but we’re not going to make any excuses.

“They saw a little red on the (measuring device), and red is no good. . . . These cars run well on minimums, and that’s why they really check them.”