Memory Will Drive Earnhardt in Quest to Win Daytona 500 : Auto racing: He will be thinking of Bonnett as he goes for the one major title that has eluded him.

Even some of Dale Earnhardt’s rival drivers believe it’s about time for him to take the checkered flag for the Daytona 500 in his black No. 3 Chevrolet Lumina.

He will start on the outside of the front row, alongside rookie Loy Allen Jr., in today’s race at Daytona International Speedway’s 2 1/2-mile tri-oval.

Four times in the last five years, Earnhardt has led with 10 or fewer laps remaining--twice he was ahead with one lap to go--yet he is still looking for his first victory in the Super Bowl of stock car racing.

In 1990, he led 155 of the 200 laps and had the field covered as he took the white flag for one final lap, only to have a punctured tire slow him enough to allow Derrike Cope to sweep past on the fourth turn for the victory.

Last year, he led 107 laps, including 19 of the final 20. The one he failed to lead was the last. Dale Jarrett led that one to the finish.

“This is a different Dale (Earnhardt) this year,” Jarrett said. “He and (car owner) Richard Childress were hit very hard by Neil’s (Bonnett) death, and their team will be running with a lot of emotion.

“Dale has said that Neil will be driving with him. I wouldn’t be surprised at all if this is the year Dale does it. He has a special reason.”

Bonnett, one of Earnhardt’s closest friends, was killed on Feb. 11 while practicing for the Daytona 500.

Geoff Bodine, an upstate New Yorker who has never had a friendly relationship with Earnhardt, a modern good ol’ boy from North Carolina, agrees with Jarrett.

“Earnhardt and (Ernie) Irvan look like the favorites,” said Bodine, a former 500 winner, “but it seems like one of those cars has never won here and this may be his time. Eventually, he’s bound to have some good luck.”

Irvan won the 1991 Daytona 500.

Earnhardt, a six-time Winston Cup champion and last year’s series winner, has displayed a seldom-seen soft side in conversations with the media and fellow drivers. He admits to being deeply touched by Bonnett’s death.

“It’s going to be very emotional Sunday,” he said. “It’s already been an emotional time for us, and everybody knows why. Neil Bonnett was definitely with us (in Thursday’s Twin 125 race won by Earnhardt) and he’ll be with us Sunday. I’m going to try to win the Daytona 500 for him.”

Earnhardt is one of racing’s most aggressive and determined drivers, but remains somewhat fatalistic over losing one Daytona 500 after another.

“We’ve had so many close seconds or failures, and when we’ve had the opportunity to win, something happens, we’re in the middle of everything,” he said. “We come down here and try to win every year. If we don’t win it before our career is over, we’re not going to worry.”

Earnhardt already has two victories at Daytona this week--in one of Thursday’s Twin 125 heats and in Friday’s International Race of Champions, bringing to 22 the number of races he has won here--but the 500 has eluded him.

Allen, a rookie driver from Raleigh. N.C., earned the pole with a lap of 190.158 m.p.h. But he was using Hoosier tires for qualifying and will be on Goodyears in today’s race. He and all other Hoosier contract drivers made the switch after their tires did not prove race-worthy in the Twin 125s.

“We never had any problems with our Hoosier tires, but when everyone else made the decision to go with Goodyears, we went, too,” Allen said. “One reason for our decision was that other drivers said they wouldn’t draft with me if I stayed on Hoosiers.”

Allen, a former World Karting Assn. champion who has driven in only five Winston Cup races and never finished better than 26th, said his ambition today was “to stay in the lead draft and finish better than 26th.”

Mark Martin, one of the strong force of Ford drivers, was not pleased with the tire situation. “I’m glad the Hoosiers are gone,” he said. “The only thing is that it’s very unfair that they were faster (in qualifying), and so some people had to go home that wouldn’t have had to if they were all on the same tire.”

Rusty Wallace, whose 10 victories were the most on the Winston Cup circuit last year, predicted a four-car race.

“I’ve got to include myself in there, the way our new Ford has been testing,” Wallace said. “I think the 3, the 6, the 28 and the 2 are definitely going to be the cars.”

That would be, in order, Earnhardt, Martin, Irvan and Wallace, who drove a Pontiac last season.

“All are beatable,” Wallace added. “We can beat each other, but those four should be the ones in front when we come down to the finish.

“Running second (in a Twin 125) was the icing on the cake because it wasn’t our best engine. We’ll have our strongest engine for the 500. It’s one we had for qualifying. Then we sent it back to the Penske Racing South shop in North Carolina, where the guys freshened it up. They re-honed the cylinders, put in new pistons, valves, springs, all that sort of thing, and sent it back here for the race.”

Although there are six former 500 winners in the field, Irvan is the only one among the favorites. His 1991 victory came when Earnhardt crashed with Davey Allison two laps from the finish while chasing Irvan.

The other former winners in today’s race are Bill Elliott, 1985 and 1987; Cope, 1990; Darrell Waltrip, 1989; Bodine, 1986, and Jarrett, 1993.

Jarrett, who had a disappointing qualifying time followed by a first-turn accident in his 125-mile heat, will start 41st, in the last row, through a provisional position based on last year’s owner standings.

A wild card in the picture may be Jeff Gordon, the 22-year-old from Pittsboro, Ind., who stunned his elders by bulling his way to the finish line ahead of Earnhardt and Irvan in last Sunday’s Busch Clash.

Gordon finished fifth last year as a rookie and will start in the third row, alongside Wallace.

Earnhardt’s assessment: “Gordon is getting better and better, and he’s going to be a car to contend with. We’re going to have to race him just like he’s one of the five or six cars who can win.”

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Motor Racing Notes

After sitting back in third or fourth position as the lead pack neared the end of the Goody’s 300 Busch Grand National race Saturday, Dale Earnhardt made one of his patented moves around first Ernie Irvan and then Terry Labonte to win his fifth straight Goody’s race.

He averaged 144.135 m.p.h. in his Goodwrench Chevrolet and won $50,933. In the last lap shuffle, Dale Jarrett was second.

Today’s Daytona 500

Time: 9 a.m. TV: Channel 2

STARTING LINEUP

No., Driver: Car

1. Loy Allen Jr.: Ford Thunderbird

2. Dale Earnhardt: Chevy Lumina

3. Ernie Irvan: Ford Thunderbird

4. Sterling Marlin: Chevy Lumina

5. Rusty Wallace: Ford Thunderbird

6. Jeff Gordon: Chevy Lumina

7. Mark Martin: Ford Thunderbird

8. Bill Elliott: Ford Thunderbird

9. Terry Labonte: Chevy Lumina

10. Brett Bodine: Ford Thunderbird

11. Todd Bodine: Ford Thunderbird

12. Morgan Shepherd: Ford Thunderbird

13. Ken Schrader: Chevy Lumina

14. Michael Waltrip: Pontiac Grand Prix

15. John Andretti: Chevy Lumina

16. Derrike Cope: Ford Thunderbird

17. Chad Little: Ford Thunderbird

18. Wally Dallenbach Jr.: Pontiac Grand Prix

19. Robert Pressley: Chevy Lumina

20. Ricky Rudd: Ford Thunderbird

21. Jimmy Spencer: Ford Thunderbird

22. Lake Speed: Ford Thunderbird

23. Bobby Hamilton: Pontiac Grand Prix

24. Ted Musgrave: Ford Thunderbird

25. Jimmy Hensley: Ford Thunderbird

26. Kyle Petty: Pontiac Grand Prix

27. Dave Marcis: Chevy Lumina

28. Jimmy Horton: Ford Thunderbird

29. Dick Trickle: Chevy Lumina

30. Rick Mast: Ford Thunderbird

31. Greg Sacks: Ford Thunderbird

32. Darrell Waltrip: Chevy Lumina

33. Bobby Hillin Jr.: Ford Thunderbird

34. Joe Ruttman: Ford Thunderbird

35. Jeff Burton: Ford Thunderbird

36. Harry Gant: Chevy Lumina

37. Chuck Bown: Ford Thunderbird

38. Hut Stricklin: Ford Thunderbird

39. Geoff Bodine: Ford Thunderbird

40. Jeremy Mayfield: Ford Thunderbird

41. *Dale Jarrett: Chevy Lumina

42. *Bobby Labonte: Pontiac Grand Prix

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Note: Pole position won at a speed of 190.158 m.p.h.

* provisional starter