In their third Winston Cup qualifying at-bat on Friday at the Richmond International Raceway, Billy Bigley Jr., team owner Don Arnold and the rest of the crew came up hitless again, failing to make the 43-car field for tonight’s Chevy Rock & Roll 400. The slowest of the 45 cars that made qualifying runs Friday afternoon, the #79 Arnold Development Companies Dodge was one of just two cars that didn’t make the race. The other was Larry Foyt. “Totally unacceptable,” Arnold said of the team’s latest performance. Qualifying attempts at Indianapolis and Bristol, Tenn., in August also proved unsuccessful. Next up on the proposed schedule for the upstart team is the Dover 400 at Dover Downs in Delaware on Sept. 21. But Arnold hinted that a qualifying attempt there will now be re-examined. “I’m not sure about that right now,” he said early Friday evening. “We have to regroup and see why we are not being successful. We don’t really know what went wrong today. We’ll do what we have to do so that we make the next race,” Arnold emphasized.( Naples Daily News )(9-6-2003)
