
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, July 24, 1994                   TAG: 9407300018
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: D9   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA.                                 LENGTH: Medium

A LONG DROUGHT ENDS

With his Winston Cup teammate Terry Labonte drafting behind him, Ken Schrader swept past Sterling Marlin with less than two laps to go to win the Fram 500k Grand National race Saturday at Talladega Superspeedway.

It was Schrader's first Grand National victory since September 1989 at Dover and his first significant NASCAR victory of any kind since he won a Winston Cup race at Dover in 1991.

Labonte was second, followed by Dale Earnhardt, Marlin and Jeff Purvis. Fourteen cars finished on the lead lap.

``I had Terry behind me, and I owe a lot to Terry because he hung with me,'' Schrader said. ``He got me up there and didn't leave me hanging, but he is my teammate.'' Both drivers drive for Hendrick Motorsports in the Winston Cup series.

The winning pass came as the pack barreled out of turn 2 and headed down the backstretch. The pass was so effective that the rest of the drivers, dicing among themselves, were unable to catch up to Schrader and Labonte until the final turn of the last lap. That effort, led by Earnhardt, failed because Labonte didn't try to pass Schrader at the end, which would have slowed both of them.

``I saw the black car [Earnhardt] coming on the last lap, but I knew that Terry wanted second just as bad as I wanted first, so I knew he was going to do everything to hold him off,'' Schrader said.

Labonte said if he had tried to go for the win, he would have lost second.

``I was going to try and make a run at [Schrader], but when I looked in my mirror, it was filled with everybody behind. If I had tried to pass, we both might have gotten beaten.''

QUALIFYING: Six days after his gritty second-place finish in the Miller 500 at Pocono, Ward Burton found himself back at the bottom of the barrel in the Winston Cup series, heading home to Virginia after failing to qualify for the fifth time this season.

After finishing 47th in qualifying, Burton was hardly to blame for the slow run because the car is everything at Talladega. The driver mashes the gas pedal and holds on. Still, Burton was so upset that he declined to talk to a reporter as he left the speedway.

Among those who failed to qualify was Derrick Cope, who will miss a race for the first time this season.

Jimmy Hensley and John Andretti made it into the field on speed after failing to crack the fastest 40 on Friday.

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB