Skinner, Grissom Will Lead Field After Fast Runs

Mike Skinner, a graduate of NASCAR’s young truck series, upstaged his mentor and teammate, seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt, to win the pole position Saturday for next Sunday’s Daytona 500. Skinner lapped the high-banked 2 1/2-mile Daytona International Speedway oval at 189.813 mph.

Skinner and Steve Grissom, who did not have a ride the last half of last season, will start in the front row in Chevrolet Monte Carlos. Grissom, in his first race with Larry Hedrick’s team, had a lap of 189.318 mph.

“It’s just unbelievable, absolutely unbelievable,” Skinner said. “I don’t know what happened to the Fords. They came in here with a big edge over the Chevys in practice. It’s kind of a mystery.”

After the two front-row Chevrolets, Fords filled the next seven positions.

Skinner, 39, won the 1995 Craftsman Truck series driving for Richard Childress, who also has been Earnhardt’s car owner for six of his seven championships. When Childress decided to field a two-car Winston Cup team, he named Skinner as his other driver.

A product of Northern California short tracks before joining Childress’ truck team two years ago, Skinner said he has no illusions about holding his position.

“Maybe I can lead a lap before they drop-kick me to the back like a hard football,” the Susanville, Calif., driver said. “I’ll talk with Dale [Earnhardt] and get as much help as I can, but I don’t know my way around in the draft yet.”

Skinner is the second rookie in four years to win the pole. Loy Allen Jr. started first in 1994, but finished 22nd without leading a lap.

Three showers and a wreck slowed the qualifying procedure and hurt the chances of Earnhardt and 1995 champion Jeff Gordon after they had to abort runs and restart later.

Earnhardt, who ended up 10th at 188.151 mph, was on the track when it began to rain, and Gordon, who was a disappointing 22nd at 187.274, was under way when Gary Bradberry smacked the wall on his second lap. Bradberry was not injured.

“You’ve got your car in qualifying trim and to go around, and then come back and readjust, you just lose a little bit,” said Earnhardt, last year’s pole winner who is still looking for his first Daytona 500 victory. “We did pretty good, but it was still a little off from what we wanted. You can’t do anything about the weather though. We’ll just see what we can do in the 125s.”

Thursday’s Twin 125 qualifying heats will determine positions 3-30 in the field, with the rest set by time-trial speeds and provisional starters.

Skinner, the 16th qualifier of 51 starters, had to wait several hours to find out if his time would hold up for the pole. Ford drivers Rusty Wallace and Dale Jarrett, with the two fastest speeds during practice, were near the end of the line. Both just missed, Jarrett qualifying third at 189.286 and Wallace fourth at 189.179.