FORT WORTH, Texas — Bill Elliott blew away the Texas Motor Speedway qualifying record as the fastest of a dozen Winston Cup drivers who broke the 2-year-old mark in qualifying Friday for the Samsung/Radio Shack 500.
Elliott, the 42nd of 44 drivers to take to the recently repaved 1 1/2-mile oval, turned a lap of 194.224 mph, considerably faster than the record of 192.137 set by Terry Labonte.
"That was fast enough for me," said Elliott, who shut off the engine in his Evernham Motorsports Dodge after one of two allowable qualifying laps.
It also was good enough to relegate a disappointed Elliott Sadler to the outside of the front row. Sadler, whose best previous starting position was fourth, had held the top spot for more than an hour after turning a lap of 193.071 in a Ford.
"That was tough," said Sadler, who admitted he was holding his breath, hoping for his first career pole. "Everybody knows the Wood Brothers haven't won a pole since 1984. I was about 9 years old at the time."
Sadler said Elliott, who earned his second pole of the season and the 53rd of his career, probably was helped by long delays after crashes by Robby Gordon and Frank Kimmel.