Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 1, 1990 TAG: 9004010083
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: RANDY KING SPORTSWRITER
DATELINE: DARLINGTON, S.C. LENGTH: Long
Gant, who snapped a four-year winless drought on the Winston Cup tour with a win here last April, inherited the lead when Bobby Hamilton's Oldsmobile ran out of fuel with three laps to go and won Saturday's Pontiac 200 NASCAR Busch Grand National event.
It was Gant's fourth career GN victory on the 1.366-mile oval. Three of his 10 career Winston Cup wins also have come at Darlington.
"I love this place," said Gant, who collected a $13,875 prize. "Good things seem to always happen to me here."
The door didn't open Saturday until late in the race. With five laps to go in the 147-lap chase, Gant trailed Hamilton and Bobby Labonte.
On lap 143, Labonte's Oldsmobile grazed the outside wall in turn three and bobbled slightly.
As Gant went past Labonte on the backstretch on lap 145, Hamilton's car began to slow while entering turn three. Gant zipped past seconds later and drove away to his 12th career GN victory.
Labonte wound up second, some 15 car lengths back. Ken Schrader finished third, L.D. Ottinger fourth and Virginian Jimmy Hensley was fifth.
Hensley, who made an unscheduled pit stop early and lost a lap, moved his Oldsmobile into second place in the GN points race, 33 points behind Labonte.
Labonte said his late encounter with the unforgiving Darlington wall cost him his first career GN victory.
"I was feeling pretty good until I flat ran into the wall," Labonte said. "I got hung up in traffic and got my first Darlington stripe, I guess."
Gant averaged 129.689 mph for the 200-mile race that started 90 minutes late because of rain.
Caution flags slowed the race three times for 13 laps. There was only one major accident. It happened on lap 21 when Dave Rezendes' car blew an engine and collected the trailing cars of Dale Jarrett, Kyle Petty and Ronald Cooper. All four cars were badly damaged, but no drivers were injured.
Hamilton coasted home to 12th place, a lap off the pace. Chuck Bown, of Ridgeway, Va., finished 13th. Bown moved from fifth to third in the points standings, 84 behind Labonte.
A small crowd estimated at 18,000 attended the race that was run under dark, gray skies.
Results of Saturday's Pontiac Pacesetters 200 Busch Grand National stock car race, with starting position in parentheses, hometown, type of car, laps completed, reason out, if any, money won and winner's average speed in mph:
1. (3) Harry Gant, Taylorsville, N.C., Buick, 147, $13,875, 129.689 mph; 2. (4) Bobby Labonte, Archdale, N.C., Oldsmobile, 147, $7,732; 3. (25) Ken Schrader, Concord, N.C., Chevrolet, 147, $4,350; 4. (10) L.D. Ottinger, Newport, Tenn., Oldsmobile, 147, $6,282; 5. (2) Jimmy Hensley, Ridgeway, Va., Oldsmobile, 147, $3,882; 6. (5) Darrell Waltrip, Franklin, Tenn., Chevrolet, 146, $2,000; 7. (32) Tommy Houston, Hickory, N.C., Buick, 147, $4,557; 8. (1) Kenny Wallace, St. Louis, Pontiac, 146, $2,957; 9. (6) Jeff Burton, South Boston, Va., Buick, 146, $2,482; 10. (17) Ed Berrier, Winston-Salem, N.C., Buick, 146, $1,150.
11. (19) Tom Peck, McConnellsburg, Pa., Oldsmobile, 146, $2,257; 12. (31) Bobby Hamilton, Nashville, Tenn., Oldsmobile, 146, $3,957; 13. (9) Chuck Bown, Portland, Pontiac, 146, $2,157; 14. (15) Rick Mast, Rockbridge Baths, Va., Buick, 146, $1,425; 15. (7) Brad Teague, Johnson City, Tenn., Oldsmobile, 145, $1,400; 16. (26) Jack Ingram, Asheville, N.C., Chevrolet, 145, $2,032; 17. (38) Clifford Allison, Hueytown, Ala., Buick, 145, $2,007; 18. (11) Tommy Ellis, Richmond, Va., Buick, 145, $3,707; 19. (13) Joe Nemechek, Lakeland, Fla., Buick, 145, $1,907; 20. (35) Steve Grissom, Gadsden, Ala., Oldsmobile, 144, $1,832.
21. (39) Robert Pressley, Asheville, N.C., Oldsmobile, 143, $1,007; 22. (29) Ben Hess, Wadsworth, Ohio, Chevrolet, 143, $750; 23. (34) Patty Moise, Jacksonville, Fla., Buick, 142, $730; 24. (36) Bobby Dotter, Chicago, Buick, 142, $1,402; 25. (33) Todd Taylor, Richmond, Va., Pontiac, 142, $710; 26. (41) Jamie Aube, N. Ferrisburg, Vt., Buick, 139, $1,382; 27. (22) Elton Sawyer, Chesapeake, Va., Buick, 123, $3,122; 28. (27) Geoff Bodine, Julian, N.C., Ford, 105, engine failure, $680; 29. (16) Dale Earnhardt, Doolie, N.C., Chevrolet, 102, engine failure, $920; 30. (30) Ward Burton, South Boston, Va., Buick, 99, $1,342.
31. (21) Davey Allison, Hueytown, Ala., Chevrolet, 68, engine failure, $650; 32. (37) Ed Ferree, Saxonburg, Pa., Pontiac, 67, engine failure, $640; 33. (24) Dana Patten, Enfield, N.H., Buick, 53, engine failure, $630; 34. (28) Bobby Moon, Spout Spring, Va., Oldsmobile, 41, engine failure, $620; 35. (12) Dale Jarrett, Conover, N.C., Pontiac, 22, crash, $610; 36. (20) Mark Martin, Greensboro, N.C., Ford, 21, crash, $600; 37. (18) Kyle Petty, High Point, N.C., Pontiac, 21, crash, $590; 38. (8) Dave Rezendes, Assonet, Mass., Oldsmobile, 21, engine failure, $1,262; 39. (14) Ronald Cooper, Statham, Ga., Buick, 20, crash, $2,320; 40. (23) Frank Fleming, Mt. Airy, N.C., Oldsmobile, 16, engine failure, $550; 41. (40) Davey Johnson, Imperial, Pa., Buick, 4, handling, $550.
Time of race: 1:32:54. Margin of victory: 1.5 seconds. Caution flags: 3 for 13 laps. Lead changes: 11 among 8 drivers.
Lap leaders: Wallace 1-8; Gant 9-22; J.Burton 23-28; Gant 29-43; Teague 44-47; D.Allison 48-56; Gant 57-87; Earnhardt 88-100; Gant 101-110: Labonte 111-136; Hamilton 137-144; Gant 145-148.
Unofficial GN point standings: 1, Bobby Labonte, 884; 2, Jimmy Hensley, 851; 3, Chuck Bown, 800; 4, Elton Sawyer, 789; 5, Harry Gant, 788; 6, Tommy Houston, 782; 7, Kenny Wallace, 776; 8, Tommy Ellis, 759; 9, Tom Peck, 755; 10, Dale Jarrett, 749.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB