ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, July 22, 1996 TAG: 9607220162
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-5 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONG POND, PA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
RUSTY WALLACE passed Ricky Rudd with 29 laps left to win his fourth race of the year and climb to eighth in the points standings.
Since way back in March, Rusty Wallace has been forging one of the most consistently inconsistent records ever seen in the Winston Cup series.
He'd finish in the top 10 in one race, then break something in the next one. He'd win, then crash.
But Wallace's victory in the Miller 500 at Pocono International Raceway on Sunday, which came on the heels of a seventh-place finish at New Hampshire, finally gave him two good runs in a row.
It was his fourth victory in 1996 and the 45th of his career.
The race was dominated by Mark Martin, who led 121 of the 200 laps. But three late cautions bunched the field and Wallace took the lead for the first time on lap 171 when he passed Ricky Rudd.
He went on to win by three-tenths of a second over Rudd. Dale Jarrett was third and Ernie Irvan was fourth as Fords swept the top four spots. Johnny Benson was fifth in a Pontiac Grand Prix, posting his best career finish for the second race in a row (he was ninth at New Hampshire).
And finishing sixth, in the highest-finishing Chevrolet Monte Carlo, was Sterling Marlin. Needless to say, the Chevy teams were none too happy about the results.
``It was like going to a gun fight with a knife and they've got all the guns,'' Marlin said. ``If NASCAR can't see it, I don't know what the problem is. They just drove off and left us today.''
But all is well with Wallace. He's having another big year and he has moved to eighth in the Winston Cup points standings, 418 points behind leader Terry Labonte.
And as far as he's concerned, all finally is well in the Ford-Chevy duel.
``We worked for a year and a half to get the rules close,'' he said. ``I think right now that the rules are close enough. It's time just to go racing now.
It's as equal as it's going to get.''
For the record, nobody in the Ford camp was complaining Sunday.
Only Martin was crushed, and that was because he saw a golden opportunity go to waste after dominating most of the day.
After a crash on lap two, the race went green for the next 155 laps, and Martin led the way. He was in front for 121 laps until the yellow flag flew on lap 161 because, according to NASCAR officials, there was debris in the first turn.
But during Martin's pit stop, a lugnut became stuck in an air-wrench socket, and he had to pit twice to change all four tires. That relegated him to 10th. He finally finished ninth.
Wallace, meanwhile, charged out of the pits in second, trailing only Rudd. And on lap 171, he passed Rudd in the second turn and stayed in front the rest of the way.
So he finally put two good races together for the first time since he finished fourth at Darlington and fifth at Bristol in March.
That's when his roller-coaster finishes began. He was 33rd at North Wilkesboro, then won at Martinsville. He finished 30th at Talladega, then won at Sears Point. He finished 34th at Charlotte, then was seventh at Dover. Five weeks ago at Pocono, he was 31st. Then he won at Michigan, only to finish 31st at Daytona before the series headed to New Hampshire.
``A lot of people just look at the finishes, but I just look at the performance of the car,'' Wallace said.
Can he still contend for the title?
``Absolutely,'' he said. ``There is still a chance. I've got a lot of good [tracks] coming up, so there's enough time. I've had enough time to lose that many points, so I've got enough time to gain that many.''
LENGTH: Medium: 77 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Bobby Hamilton's car (foreground) bounces off Jeffby CNBGreen's after a collision in the third turn of the second lap of the
Miller 500 on Sunday. No one was injured in the five-car wreck.
Rusty Wallace went on to win the event at Long Pond, Pa. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING