Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 29, 1993 TAG: 9308290285
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BRISTOL, TENN. LENGTH: Medium
Wallace was in front for 410 of the 500 laps, but was unable to keep the charging, determined Martin behind him when the chips were down.
Martin got his Ford Thunderbird under Wallace's Pontiac Grand Prix in turns 3 and 4 on lap 488 and held on for a one-car length victory.
Dale Earnhardt never led, but Results in Scoreboard. E4 finished third to keep a 309-point lead over Wallace in the battle for the Winston Cup championship. Harry Gant was fourth. Rick Mast and Jimmy Hensley, finishing fifth and sixth, both had their best finishes of the year.
"The low side was the fast side, and Rusty was guarding for it," Martin said, recalling his exciting, race-winning pass. "But he got a little loose off turn two and I just got a good run at him down the backstretch and just barely got under him. Then I just kind of squeezed ahead of him.
"Rusty didn't give me much room. It was a great race."
At the end of three hours of racing on the most demanding NASCAR track, it came down to physical conditioning, even though both drivers work out.
"I started getting a little tired there at the end," Wallace said. "My neck started hurting real bad. I did all I could. He just got me. Everything from that darn Talladega wreck has hurt me because I haven't been exercising."
Said Martin, "I couldn't have done what I did tonight if I didn't (exercise) five days a week."
Martin's third straight victory was particularly impressive because he battled back after losing two laps early in the race with a loose right rear wheel. And he won from the pole, which he captured Saturday afternoon at a speed of 121.405 miles per hour.
Martin pushed his Ford Thunderbird so hard that the front right brake rotor caught fire in victory lane. There were no fire extinguishers there, so his crew had to put it out with Gatorade while an out-of-breath Martin staggered away from the smoke.
Bristol is far better at dishing out disappointment than happiness, and Ricky Rudd, Kyle Petty, Bobby Labonte and Lake Speed were among those with the worst experiences.
Rudd was in third place for most of the first 350 laps and appeared headed for a strong finish when his Chevy suddenly spun coming off turn 2 and slammed head on into the inside wall.
"Evidently I got up just a little too high coming out of turn 2 and around we went," Rudd said. His crew repaired the car, but he was 85 laps down when he got back on the track. He finished 22nd.
Kyle Petty, who started 20th, clawed his way through the field and into the lead on lap 156. He led 23 laps before relinquishing the lead back to Wallace.
Then, on lap 196, Petty's car got loose coming out of turn four, fishtailed down the frontstretch and finally spun, slamming the end of the pit wall. That was it for Petty, who said he just lost it. He finished 30th in the 34-car field.
Rookie Labonte, who has been coming on strong during the second half of the season, was hanging onto the lead lap when his car suddenly spun coming off turn 2 on lap 310.
"The odor was getting to me," Labonte told his crew on the radio.
"Be calm, be calm," crew chief Tim Brewer told him. Brewer then ordered other crew members to find brother Terry Labonte for relief duty.
Labonte lost no laps after the spin, but he went three laps down during the next caution period while the driver change was made. The brothers brought the car home in 15th place.
Speed was in the top 10 until lap 430, when he was tapped by Mast and hit the second turn wall. He finished 16th.
The demanding track took its toll on other drivers, too, as both Jimmy Hensley and Geoff Bodine complained of leg cramps late in the race while running in the top 10.
The inevitable process of winnowing the field at Bristol started on lap 10, when Ernie Irvan spun down the backstretch and tapped the inside wall. Irvan lost a lap and was never a factor, finishing 26th.
Earlier, during qualifying, Irvan crashed in turn 4, forcing him to go to a backup car and use a provisional starting spot.
Dale Jarrett was the other driver on this all-star, provisional back row. Stymied by a Friday practice crash, Jarrett failed to qualify for one of the 32 starting positions.
Jarrett had no better luck in the race. His car's rear end broke and he finished 31st, only completing 199 laps. The poor finish dropped Jarrett from second to fourth in Winston Cup points.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB