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By JOHN ERZAR; Times Leader Sports Writer
Friday, June 06, 1997     Page: 1B

Just what kind of track is Pocono International Raceway?
   
According to defending Pocono 500 champion Jeff Gordon, it’s a little of
everything.
    “It’s like throwing a short track, a superspeedway and a road course all
into one,” Gordon said of the 2 1/2-mile Long Pond tri-oval, which has three
different degrees of banking in its turns. “Horsepower and handling are the
important factors to winning at Pocono.”
   
So, too, is qualifying well.
   
Qualifying for the first 25 positions will take place today at 3 p.m.
Positions 26 through 38 will be determined through second-day qualifying
Saturday at 11:30 a.m. The field could be as large as 43 competitors based on
provisional starters.
   
The Pocono 500 starts at 1 p.m. Sunday, and will be televised by The
Nashville Network (TNN). The race can also be heard on four MRN affiliates:
WARM (95.7 FM/1550 AM); WAZL-AM 1690, Hazleton; WEMR-AM 1460, Tunkhannock;
WCNR-AM 930, Bloomsburg.
   
Although just six of 38 Winston Cup events at Pocono have been won from the
pole, 28 races have been won by drivers starting in the top-10.
   
Gordon won the pole last season with a qualifying record of 169.725 mph,
then finished 3.688 seconds ahead of second-place Ricky Rudd for his fifth
victory of the season.
   
“I’m looking forward to Pocono,” said Rudd, who comes in off a victory in
the Miller 500 at Dover, Del., last week. “We finished second there in both
races last year, so it was a good race for us. It’s a race we’ve never won,
but we’ve had some good finishes there.”
   
Active drivers Darrell Waltrip and Bill Elliott are tied with the late Tim
Richmond with four victories at Pocono. Geoff Bodine and Rusty Wallace have
three victories each.
   
Wallace won the July Pocono race, and is bringing back the same car, albeit
with a different paint scheme.
   
“We don’t want to sound too greedy or nothing, but we want both Pocono wins
this season,” said Wallace, who has six DNFs in 12 races this season, yet is
in 13th in the points standings. “We should have done it last year … and
plan on doing it this time around.”
   
Experience appears to be the key to a strong qualifying run. Aside from
Gordon, veteran drivers Wallace, Ken Schrader and Mark Martin have won the
previous five poles. Schrader has five of his 18 career poles there.
   
Second-year driver Johnny Benson also discovered that last year. He
qualified 41st and finished 25th in the June race, but returned the following
month to qualify sixth and finish fifth.
   
“Experience is huge at Pocono,” Benson said. “It’s a track that is hard to
get around.”
   
TIMES LEADER/BOB ESPOSITO
   
Steve Bramley’s pit crew looks over his wrecked car after it was towed back
to the garage area after a crash in turn 1 during practice Thursday. Bramley,
of Pocono Lake, was practicing for qualifying later in the day for Saturday’s
ARCA race, but the car was too badly damaged to be repaired in time.
   
NASCAR POCONO 500