Childress teammates post top qualifying times

NASCAR drivers consider the Pepsi 400 as the kickoff to the second half of the Winston Cup season. It's looking more like the start of a new year.

There was rookie Mike Skinner, once again sitting at the pole at Daytona International Speedway. And not too far behind was Dale Earnhardt.The Richard Childress Racing teammates, both hoping their success at Daytona might shake them out of slumps, posted the best two times Thursday over the 2.5-mile superspeedway.

"It's an honor to be on the front row at Daytona with anybody, especially somebody as knowledgeable as Dale," said Skinner, whose lap in his Chevrolet was 189.777 mph.

Skinner, who finished 12th at the season-opening Daytona 500 from the pole, was the first out on the track on a blistering hot day with only a few puffs of clouds that never materialized into shade.

His time of 47.424 seconds over the 21/2-mile tri-oval turned out to be .004 seconds better than Earnhardt, the closest margin on the Winston Cup circuit this year.

John Andretti qualified third in a Ford, followed by the Chevy of Jeff Gordon, a seven-time winner this year who leads the Winston Cup series.

While Skinner was thrilled to win his second pole at Daytona this year, Earnhardt wasn't in much of a mood to discuss his best qualifier this year.

"It's not the pole," Earnhardt said in brief comments before heading to his trailer.

Both drivers have had a season to forget since the Daytona 500, where Skinner ran a solid race for a rookie and Earnhardt challenged for the lead late in the race before a spectacular crash.

Skinner has finished no better than 33rd in four of the last five Winston Cup races, the exception his ninth-place showing at Dover, his best finish of the year.

Earnhardt's troubles are more pronounced. The seven-time Winston Cup champion has gone 42 races without a win, and he hasn't even won a pole since Aug. 11, 1996 at The Bud at the Glen, where he was driving the road course with a fractured sternum.

He has only one top-five finish in his first 15 events this year. The last time he had such a poor start to a season was in 1983, when he only had three top-fives at the halfway point.

"I've been down in the Bahamas fishing and thinking about it a little bit," said Earnhardt.

Daytona was sure to lift his spirits. Although his failure at the Daytona 500 haunts him, Earnhardt has proven to be a master at the superspeedway. He was won the Pepsi 400 twice, and he has won 29 races at Daytona.