TUESDAY,FEBRUARY 11,2003
SPORTS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN = 7B
Green surprises favored Earnhardt at Daytona 500
The Associated Press
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Unheralded Jeff Green took the spotlight from Dale Earnhardt Jr. by winning the pole yesterday for the Daytona 500.
Earnhardt, who went into qualifying heavily favored to take his first Daytona pole after showing muscle by winning Saturday night's Bud Shootout, held the top spot on the speed chart with a lap of 186.382 mph.
Green, the next driver on the 2 1/2-mile Daytona International Speedway oval, pushed Earnhardt to the outside of the front row for the season-opening Winston Cup race with a fast lap of 186.606.
Green's Chevrolet was 0.058 seconds faster than that of Earnhardt.Those are the only cars with guaranteed starting positions for NASCAR's premier race.
while Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Inc. teammate Michael Waltrip wound up a disappointing second and fourth, it was a particularly good day for Richard Childress Racing—the team for which the late Dale Earnhardt won six of his seven series championships.
Green's teammates, Robby Gordon and Kevin Harvick, were third and sixth in qualifying.
Green, who won the Busch Series title in 2000, is starting his second full season with Childress. The 40-year-old driver, one of three racing brothers from
Owensboro, Ky., said the pole performance was no surprise to him.
"There's been a lot of work done in the last few months in our shop and the new Monte Carlo is a phenomenal car," he said. "Chevrolet gave us something this year we can really race with."
"And (new crew chief) Mike Beam really turned us around."
Chevrolets took the top four positions and six of the top eight.
"I'm still nervous." Green said. "I feel like I just ran a lap at Darlington, and you know how that is. Now we've got to go out and run strong in the race and the rest of the season and show how much we've improved."
Earnhardt called the day "bittersweet." He badly wanted the pole, but had never qualified better than 15th for this race.
"Of course I'm satisfied," he said. "It was a fantastic lap. We have a lot to be proud of, we improved so much, and we've got a locked-in position in the race."
With the front row decided on yesterday — 24 hours after rain prevented qualifying—the rest of the 43-car field will be filled Thursday.
Under the unique qualifying format for the 500, positions 3 through 30 are determined in twin 125-mile qualifying races, with 14 coming out of each race. Positions 31-36 go to the fastest drivers yesterday who haven't
already qualified. The rest of the lineup is filled by provisional starters, based on last year's car owner points.
Series champion Tony Stewart blew his engine on his first of two qualifying laps and failed to post a time. He will start no worse than 37th, on car-owner points, but will try to improve on that Thursday.
It was reminiscent of last year, when Stewart finished last in the race after his engine went up in smoke on the second lap.
Following the Chevys of Gordon at 185.927 and Waltrip at 185.460 came the Ford of Ricky Rudd, making his debut with the Wood Brothers, at 185.372.
Harvick's Monte Carlo was
next at 185.063 and the Ford of three-time Daytona 500 winner Dale Jarrett followed at 184.957
Rounding out the top 10 were the Chevy of Stewart's teammate, Bobby Labonte at 184.942 and the Dodges of two-time Daytona 500 champion Sterling Marlin at 184.725 and Kyle Petty at 184.668.
Rookie Jamie McMurray, who set a record last fall by winning at Winston Cup race in his second start — as a sub for the injured Marlin — was 11th in a Dodge at 184.502.
Two-time Daytona 500 champion Jeff Gordon, always among the favorites in the race, qualified all the way back in 29th at 183.221.
Texas Tech baseball sweeps series
By Jason Lenz
University Daily, Texas Tech via U-Wire
LUBBOCK, Texas — Coming off a 21-4 rout of West Texas A&M on Tuesday, the Texas Tech Red Raiders faced off against the Toreros of the University of San Diego in a three-game series this weekend.
Tech swept the series with 8-3 and 7-3 victories Saturday, followed by Sunday's dramatic 15-13 victory.
game, a signal of things to come.
Saturday's doubleheader began at noon. Although snow flurries floated through the chilly air, the Raiders were red hot.
In game one, Tech scored three runs in the first inning and four runs in the eighth. Junior second baseman Josh Haney went 2-4 with two RBIs in the
Following the series, Haney observed a newfound confidence in the hitting.
"The lineup is starting to gel good together," Haney said. "That's the big thing about us. If one guy doesn't take care of it, then the next guy's going to step in."
Although junior Steve Gooch walked a career-high four hitters in game one, his six-inning, six-hit effort was good enough to give him his second win in as many attempts. Junior Juan Razo notched his first save of the year.
In game two Saturday, San Diego jumped out on top 2-0 going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Haney stepped up with runners on the corners and no outs. He took a 2-2 pitch over the left-field fence, and Tech
Tech scored five runs in the fourth inning and added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth, giving the Raiders a 7-3 victory.
Game three Sunday was a shootout. Defensively, both teams may have needed extra fielders, as baseballs kept raining all over the park.
Tech had a 4-0 lead going into the top of the third when the Toreros scored five on two doubles, a single and a triple off senior right-hander Dusty Buck.
The teams battled back and forth for the remainder of the game. The game went into the ninth inning tied, 13-13. After a leadoff double by sophomore Cody Fuller, junior designated hitter Evan Shahak came to the plate.
"I was surprised they were
going to throw to me," Shahak said. "I think they thought I was going to bunt to move the runner over to third, so they gave me a fastball right there, right over the heart of the plate."
Shahak took that fastball over the left-field fence, his fifth homer this season, giving Tech a nail-biting 15-13 win and a sweep in the series.
"Right now, we're on fire, Bruce said. "I think we might be one of the hottest teams playing baseball."
Ever since the 9-6 loss to New Mexico on Feb.2, Tech has been unstoppable. Bruce said that game may have been a wake-up call for the Raiders.
"They came in here and beat us on our own field when we had a chance to sweep," he said. "So I think that fired us up."
Longhorn offense spurs victory in doubleheader
By Natalie England Daily Texan, University of Texas via U-Wire
AUSTIN, Texas After the first two games of their three-game set with the University of Texas-Arlington were postponed due to cold, drizzly weather, the sun finally came out for the Longhorns.
And that sun reheated Texas' bats. After only mounting five hits in the loss Tuesday to Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas dominated Sunday's double-header, claiming two wins over the Mavericks, 8-2 and 11-3.
But initially it didn't look that way.
In the Mavericks' top half of the first inning with the bases juiced, Robby Deevers hit a two-run single to give UTA an early two-run lead.
The Longhorns came back in the bottom of the first to knot the game at two.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fifth inning with third baseman Michael Hollimon stepped to the plate.
Roping a 3-1 pitch over the right field fence, the sophomore gave the Longhorns the lead for good.
That game-breaking round-tripper highlighted Hollimon's three-hit, two-RBI day.
"I was seeing the ball really well," Hollimon said. "It was just one of those days. Everything was feeling good, and I got it going pretty well. Offense is contagious."
Contagious like the flu apparently, as after Hollimon's fifth inning homer, the Longhorns launched into a four-run sixth inning.
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