ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 16, 1996 TAG: 9602160031
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: DAYTONA BEACH, FLA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
By the length of the hood of his car, Ernie Irvan proved once and for all Thursday he belongs in the NASCAR Winston Cup series.
His victory in the second Twin 125 qualifying race at Daytona International Speedway, by about four feet over Ken Schrader, showed Irvan not only is capable of competing, but that he intends to be a force in the race for the points championship.
In the first race, Dale Earnhardt won his seventh consecutive Twin 125, leading 21 laps and cruising past the finish line with no real challenge from Sterling Marlin, who was a couple of car-lengths behind.
But the best racing came on the last lap of the second qualifier, as Irvan somehow managed to hold off the double-team drafting move of Schrader and Jeff Gordon.
Schrader and Irvan were side by side through much of the last lap, but Irvan edged forward at the finish line, probably with a slight boost from John Andretti, who moved in behind him in the last few hundred yards.
``I had the bottom groove and I had the faster groove,'' Irvan said. ``I had a great race car today. I held it wide-open all day.''
Andretti finished third, followed by Gordon and Ricky Rudd.
Irvan led flag to flag. It was his first victory since Sears Point (Calif.) in May 1994. If he said anything on the radio after he took the checkered flag, it was drowned out by the congratulations of those in his pits.
Teammate Dale Jarrett came on the radio, as did his crew chief, Todd Parrott. And then Irvan's crew chief, Larry McReynolds, cued the mike and said, ``Ernie, like I told you Saturday, now '96 has really begun.''
This was the greatest moment yet in Irvan's long comeback after nearly being killed in an accident during practice at Michigan International Speedway in August 1994. But he does not consider it complete.
``I don't think that'll be settled until about August ... '' he said. ``The day I got hurt, we were racing Earnhardt for the championship. There would be nothing better than to be racing Earnhardt for the championship again. That's when it'll be complete.''
For the first time at a news conference, Irvan also addressed the most sensitive issue of all about his return to racing - the matter of the late Neil Bonnett, who returned here in 1994 after a long recovery from a head injury suffered in a racing accident, only to lose his life on the track.
Irvan's victory Thursday, he said, was one more small step ``of what I think we need to do to let everybody know we're doing the right thing, especially after some of the tragedies we've had to face, like Neil Bonnett.
``Everybody said, `Well, he never should have got back in a race car.' Yeah, if he hadn't got back in a race car, he wouldn't have been killed that day. But he wouldn't have been happy. I wouldn't have been happy if I never got in a race car'' again.
In the first race, Marlin led the first 29 laps before getting shuffled out of the lead in the draft. Earnhardt took over and led the rest of the way.
But Earnhardt was more intrigued by the second race and the double-team effort by Gordon and Schrader.
``Everyone is talking about teammates,'' he said. ``It's going to get real competitive this year racing two cars per team and three cars per team vs. racing one on one.
``It's going to be a different trend at Daytona and Talladega. These speedway races are going to be teamwork races. Unfortunately, we've only got one team. We're going to have to go after them alone.
``It was great to see [Irvan] beat a team there, too.''
Earnhardt and Marlin were followed in the first race by Terry Labonte, Jarrett and Wally Dallenbach Jr.
Earnhardt said his victory ``just worked out for me all the way around. I sort of tried to figure out who was the strongest and I felt like the [No.]4 car [Marlin] was the strongest of the day.''
Jarrett was in second at the beginning of the last lap, but he was double-teamed by Marlin and Labonte. Both got past Jarrett, but those moves gave Earnhardt the cushion he needed.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB