ROCKINGHAM, N.C. -- Bobby Allison and Richard Petty hope the Carolina 500 will signal an end to this year's early bad luck, but the two drivers must first worry about obtaining a good starting position for Sunday's race.
The two veterans had a chance to earn the top starting spot today when qualifying began for the $290,191 race at the one-mile North Carolina Motor Speedway.
Ricky Rudd, winner of last weekend's Richmond 400, earned the pole last year with a one-lap record speed of 143.413 mph.
Seven months later Neil Bonnett set the track record in a Chevrolet with a one-lap speed of 143.876 mph.
Neither Petty nor Allison, who are using engines prepared by Robert Yates, have had good performances this year.
Allison, the defending Grand National champion, failed to finish the Daytona 500 and the Richmond 400. A broken camshaft in his Buick forced him out of the lucrative Daytona race and engine failure plagued him at Richmond, Va. His highest finish so far has been 30th.
Allison has won three races at Rockingham.
Petty's Pontiac also suffered a broken camshaft in the Daytona 500, but he finished the Richmond event in 15th.
'The tip at Rockingham is patience,' Petty said. 'I've won races there that lasted nearly five hours, and I've won some that lasted about four hours, 15 minutes. But you're not going to win any 500-mile race there in less than four hours, so you might as well forget about getting it over with in a hurry.'
Petty's victory last year came over a two-week span. Rain halted the race on March 6 after 143 laps. The final 349 laps were run the following Sunday.
Daytona 500 winner Cale Yarborough is second to Petty in the number of wins at the track with seven, but the Sardis, S.C., driver won't compete in this year's race.
Yarborough wrecked two cars at Rockingham last year in two separate races. The second one left him with an injured knee and shoulder.
After the 43-year-old Yarborough said he would not return to Rockingham until the track was repaved, a track press release insinuated the younger drivers were too much competition at the speedway for Yarborough. Following his victory at Daytona, Yarborough said that because of the release he has decided never to compete again at the speedway.
The track is scheduled to be repaved after Sunday's race, which begins at 12:05 p.m. EST.
