Another Petty Gets a Seat Up Front in Daytona 500 : Motorsports: Kyle is in pole position for the race that his father, Richard, won seven times. Chevrolets are favored.

Richard Petty closed out his illustrious Daytona 500 career last year by driving at the head of the field during the parade lap around Daytona International Speedway’s 2.5-mile triangular oval.

It was a ceremonial farewell to the man who won the Daytona 500 seven times and changed the face of stock car racing while doing it.

Today, in the 35th edition of the world’s most famous stock car race, a Petty will again be in front. This time, though, it won’t be ceremonial.

Kyle Petty, Richard’s son, earned the honor by driving his Felix Sabates-owned Pontiac around the high-banked speedway at 189.426 m.p.h. to win the pole for today’s 500-mile race. It’s an honor Richard won only once in 32 tries, when he ran 175.165 m.p.h. in 1966.

“I don’t have a clue as to what is going to happen in the 500,” Kyle Petty said. “I have just as good a chance as 40 other guys out there, but everybody thinks they can win right now. But I think we’ve got better than a good shot.”

Richard Petty is here, too, in a new role as car owner. His driver, journeyman Rick Wilson, will start from the eighth row in another Pontiac, but he is not expected to be among the leaders.

“Until they drop the green flag Sunday, I don’t know if it’ll set in that I’m not racing,” said the elder Petty, 55, who will be honorary starter for the 500. “I’m real satisfied with my driver. We’ll just have to see if he’s real satisfied with his boss.”

Wilson, 40, has driven in 174 Winston Cup races without a victory. His best finish was a second in the 1988 Firecracker 400 at Daytona.

“I’m not out here even trying to fill Richard’s shoes,” Wilson said. “I’m just filling his seat. I don’t expect anyone to think I’ll be one of the favorites in the 500.”

The role of favorite has fallen to the Chevrolets, especially the black No. 3 driven by five-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.

Earnhardt, who has won 53 races--but never a Daytona 500--has been impressive during Speed Weeks. He won both the Busch Clash and one of the 125-mile qualifying races in a manner reminiscent of 1990, when he won both preliminary events and then had the 500 won until the final turn of the final lap. That’s when a tire went flat and Earnhardt was forced high on the banking as Derrike Cope streaked to the finish line first.

“I feel as good about this car as any car I’ve had here,” Earnhardt said. “The car has been good all week. We’re in good shape. We know what to do Sunday, and we’re going to try to make it three for three on Sunday in the big one.

“A lot of things can happen in 500 miles. It’s a long way to go without any problems--I ought to know. But I think the car Richard (Childress) and the crew have given me will do the job.”

Childress said the victories in the Busch Clash and the 125-mile race were fine, but not all he had in mind.

“We didn’t come here to win those first two races, although it was nice to win because it showed us how the car was running,” Childress said. “But we came here for the Daytona 500, plain and simple.

“We didn’t run very well anywhere last year, and we made some changes that have us back where we belong--where we were when we won the Winston Cup in 1990 and 1991. The big change was getting Terry Eldridge to run the (research and development) engine shop. Eddie Lanier is still our head engine builder, but the addition of Terry is already paying off. He used to work for Richard Petty back when Richard had those strong engines.”

Earnhardt doesn’t have the only Chevrolet in the limelight. Five of the first eight cars in today’s 41-car field carry the bow-tie emblem--a distinct contrast from last year, when Davey Allison led a 1-2-3-4 Ford finish.

“Last year, we got our butts kicked every week by those Fords,” said former Daytona 500 winner Darrell Waltrip, who is starting deep in the field after his primary car was demolished during practice Wednesday. He will start today in a backup.

“This year the Chevy engineers did their homework over the winter, and the Ford guys are all whining and claiming Chevy did more politicking than engineering. I’m tired of listening to them.

“I think the same thing happened to Ford that happened to us last year. We came down here fat, dumb and happy. Earnhardt had won the championship two years in a row, Chevrolet had run away with the manufacturers’ cup and we thought we had the world by the tail.

“Ford showed up with a new package, and we suffered all year long. Now, it’s their turn to suffer.”

Dale Jarrett, driving Washington Redskin Coach Joe Gibbs’ car, is one of the Chevy favorites. The son of former NASCAR champion Ned Jarrett, Dale will start alongside Petty in the front row.

“What I look for is possibly five, six or seven cars to hook up and pull away,” Jarrett said. “Hopefully, they’ll be Chevrolets and we’ll be one of them. The key to the day will be the caution flags. If there aren’t many, maybe only two, three or four, cars will run off. If there’s a lot of cautions, bringing everyone together, we could see as many as 20 cars running close together right at the end of the day.”

Another Chevy driver who will be closely watched is Jeff Gordon, the 21-year-old rookie who stunned his elders Thursday by becoming the youngest driver to win a 125-mile qualifying heat. Gordon, showing remarkable confidence in only his second Winston Cup race, held off two-time 500 winner Bill Elliott through the late stages of the race.

Gordon drives one of four Chevys owned by auto dealer Rick Hendrick. The other Hendrick drivers are Ricky Rudd, Ken Schrader and Al Unser Jr., who will start 40th after being knocked out of his 125-mile heat by an accident. Hendrick’s record as a car owner here includes victories by Geoff Bodine in 1986 and Waltrip in 1989, the year his cars finished first, second and fourth.

The Ford challenge will be led by Elliott and Bodine, who will be starting from the third row; the fifth-row pair of Bobby Hillin and Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, and defending champion Allison.

“We haven’t given up, because the favorite very seldom wins this race,” Allison said. “We weren’t the favorite last year by any means, but we proved what we could do if we didn’t quit. We just kept coming back and coming back.

“I have something inside me that makes me want to win all the time. That’s just the way I am. And I’m tired of hearing all those Earnhardt fans saying, ‘Black is back.’ Hey, my car is just as black as his.”

Daytona 500 Lineup

POST, DRIVER: CAR

1. Kyle Petty: Pontiac

2. Dale Jarrett: Chevrolet

3. Jeff Gordon: Chevrolet

4. Dale Earnhardt: Chevrolet

5. Bill Elliott: Ford

6. Geoff Bodine: Ford

7. Ken Schrader: Chevrolet

8. Ernie Irvan: Chevrolet

9. Bobby Hillin Jr.: Ford

10. Alan Kulwicki: Ford

11. Davey Allison: Ford

12. Ricky Rudd: Chevrolet

13. Lake Speed: Ford

14. Sterling Marlin: Ford

15. Rick Wilson: Pontiac

16. Phil Parsons: Chevrolet

17. Chad Little: Ford

18. Hut Stricklin: Ford

19. Terry Labonte: Chevrolet

20. Brett Bodine: Ford

21. Dick Trickle: Ford

22. Wally Dallenbach Jr.: Ford

23. Mark Martin: Ford

24. Kenny Wallace: Pontiac

25. Bobby Labonte: Ford

26. Darrell Waltrip: Chevrolet

27. Bobby Hamilton: Ford

28. Michael Waltrip: Pontiac

29. Jimmy Horton: Chevrolet

30. Jimmy Spencer: Ford

31. Rick Mast: Ford

32. Morgan Shepherd: Ford

33. Ted Musgrave: Ford

34. Rusty Wallace: Pontiac

35. Derrike Cope: Ford

36. Joe Ruttman: Ford

37. Harry Gant: Chevrolet

38. Jimmy Hensley: Ford

39. Jim Sauter: Ford

40. Al Unser Jr.: Chevrolet

41. Dave Marcis: Chevrolet

Note: Chevrolets are the Lumina model, Fords are Thunderbirds and Pontiacs are Grand Prixes.

*1993 Daytona 500 Daytona, Florida *Race Facts *Distance: 200 laps and 500 miles Course: 2.5 miles trioval Starting field: 41 cars (plus three provisionals available) Car speed: up to 200 m.p.h., in draft, 185-195 m.p.h. in turns Degree of banking in corners: 31 degrees *Daytona 500 Records Fastest race: 177.602 m.p.h. (Buddy Baker, Oldsmobile, 1980) Slowest race: 124.740 m.p.h. (Junior Johnson, Chevrolet, 1960) Most money won: $244,050 (Davey Allison, 1992) Most victories: Richard Petty, seven Most laps led: 184( of 200), Richard Petty Most top-five finishes: Richard Petty, 11 *Recent Winners

Year Driver Car Avg. speed 1992 Davey Allison Ford 160.256 1991 Ernie Irvan Chevrolet 148.148 1990 Derrike Cope Chevrolet 165.761 1989 Darrell Waltrip Chevrolet 148.466 1988 Bobby Allison Buick 137.531 1987 Bill Elliott Ford 176.263