Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 4, 1993 TAG: 9307040175
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. LENGTH: Long
Earnhardt led 110 of the 160 laps at Daytona International Speedway and survived a last-lap bobble to win by two car lengths over Sterling Marlin.
"I about wrecked," Earnhardt said. "I was about to have one of them `half- lap short' deals. It was really luck."
It was Earnhardt's fourth victory of the year and it allowed him to pad his Winston Cup championship lead to 251 points over Dale Jarrett, who finished eighth.
If this keeps up, Earnhardt may duplicate his 1987 championship season, when he romped to the title by 489 points.
Last-place starter Ken Schrader, who was side by side with Marlin at the finish line, finished third to cap a remarkable comeback from the cheating scandal that rocked his team Thursday. But he still faces a four-race suspension.
Ricky Rudd had another strong run to finish fourth, and Jeff Gordon was fifth despite complaining that his car was "junk" late in the race.
But what the rookie thought was junk probably was a pretty good race car, since he seemed to be slipping and sliding no worse than anyone else on the hot, greasy 2.5-mile track.
With the temperature hovering around 90 degrees in the air and 140 degrees in the cockpits, the cars were a handful for the drivers.
"I don't know if anyone was really pleased with how their car drove," Jarrett said. "It was just who was less pleased. I worked my tail off to finish eighth. I worked harder than I did when I won the [Daytona] 500, I tell ya."
For Earnhardt, it was not much easier at the front of the pack.
"I felt like I was ready for the race and the heat and everything, but racing with a lot of guys behind you, with them wanting to pass you, it's sort of like playing a high-speed game of chess.
"So it was really a mental game, and then there was the heat," Earnhardt said. "This is one of the toughest races we run. You go ride around out in that thing for 160 laps at 140 degrees and breath hot air all day. You'd probably be melted down here on the floor."
Schrader, for one, called his team with about 10 laps to go to make sure the air conditioner was on in the team hauler. And when the race was over, he wasted no time getting there, running toward it at one point.
Earnhardt has 20 victories at NASCAR's premier track, but this was only his second in a Winston Cup points race. He also won the 400 in 1990, but he has yet to win the Daytona 500.
And he almost lost this race in the same manner he has lost several 500s - at the end.
"Just before I got the white flag, I pushed just a tick off of [turn] two and I said, `Woo, it's getting tight,' " Earnhardt recalled as he sat on a cooler in Victory Lane, catching his breath. "I come back through there the next [and last] lap and it pushed even more. I about got into the wall.
"I got out of the throttle a little bit. I swerved back over to the inside, and Schrader tried to go to the outside, and when I swerved back, I kind of pinched him to the wall."
Recalled Schrader: "I got my nose in there and he kind of wiped it for me. That let Sterling get on the inside."
Marlin said: "I got up under Schrader, and I about had enough to get up under Earnhardt, but I'd have been out there in the pond [Lake Lloyd] somewhere, so I checked up a little bit."
"I blocked him off," Earnhardt said, "and then they got to racing each other and I came back to the line. Then it was just duking it out the best you could. I was just fortunate that it didn't crash coming off turn two. But if I hadn't pushed up and gotten out of the gas, I felt like there wouldn't have been a pass [attempt] at all."
The only driver who looked as commanding as Earnhardt on Saturday was Marlin, who led 20 laps, more than anyone else except Earnhardt.
Marlin did most of his leading during the third quarter of the race, when Earnhardt's car was particularly loose. Marlin was better during the long runs anyway.
"As the track got slick, it would really take off and run and go good," Marlin said.
A couple of yellow flags during the last 30 laps kept the field bunched and helped prevent Marlin from capturing his first Winston Cup victory.
This was his third second-place finish in the 400 and the ninth time in Marlin's Winston Cup career that he has been a runner-up. For Earnhardt, it was career victory No. 57 - sixth on the all-time list.
The race was slowed by six yellow flags, but there were only three crashes, the worst being a six-car incident in turn 2 on lap 22 that eliminated Jimmy Spencer, Hut Stricklin, Bobby Labonte and Jimmy Horton and effectively wiped out Kyle Petty, one of the pre-race favorites.
On lap 105, Petty was overcome by fumes in his Pontiac Grand Prix and passed out as he arrived at his pit.
"I never noticed it getting too hot in the car or anything like that," Petty said. "My fingers started tingling and then my legs went to sleep. I told my crew, `You've got to find somebody [to drive in relief] because I've got to come in.' By the time I came in and stopped, well, I just passed out."
Petty never did get a relief driver, and he finished 33rd, which dropped him from fourth to sixth in the championship standings, 396 points behind the man who took the checkered flag.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB