ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, October 28, 1996 TAG: 9610290021
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: PHOENIX
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
In the midst of a hectic Saturday devoted to getting Terry Labonte ready to race with a broken left hand, car owner Rick Hendrick thought of something.
``I ought to find the biggest needle and syringe I can find,'' Hendrick said, a smile creeping across his face. ``Then I can get it out during tomorrow's race and stick it through the window when Terry comes in to pit.''
By Sunday morning, a few hours before the Dura-Lube 500 at Phoenix International Raceway, Hendrick had his needle. It was a big one - the type veterinarians use on horses.
The joke was that Labonte, having already seen more than enough needles since hurting himself in a crash during practice Friday morning, would run faster if he saw the vet's needle.
But the reality of Sunday was that Labonte ran with all the confidence and composure of a driver who had no broken bones at all.
Labonte, finishing third behind Bobby Hamilton and Mark Martin, ran better than his teammate Jeff Gordon (fifth), and Dale Jarrett (eighth), and extended his lead in the Winston Cup championship.
He's now 47 points ahead of Gordon and 99 points ahead of Jarrett.
``We don't have a big enough lead going into Atlanta,'' Labonte said. ``We need about 160 to be comfortable.''
But all Labonte needs to do at Atlanta on Nov.10 is finish eighth or better and he's got his second Winston Cup championship, no matter how well Gordon and Jarrett do.
``If you would have given me a top 10 yesterday, I would have taken it and said let's go on,'' Labonte said. ``This was a bonus today, finishing third.''
Labonte said that during the race, he hardly felt the broken bone in his left index finger.
``We injected my hand with something - something painful when it went in,'' he said. ``I still really can't feel anything. It doesn't hurt. I'll probably pay for it tonight going home, but right now it doesn't hurt.''
For Gordon, even his top-five finish was hard to take, given the fact that he didn't run well and he lost ground to Labonte.
``Today, we had to fight real hard to get what we got,'' Gordon said after crawling out of his car. He wasn't upset, but he wasn't happy. ``I don't know why we're not running well,'' he said. ``It's baffling to me, too. It's not because we haven't been trying. I don't quite understand it. We couldn't get the track position we wanted.''
Jarrett, who needed to gain the most, lost the most. The handling of his Ford was off and he also crashed into Ken Schrader's car on pit road. The extra time he spent untangling from that cost him several positions on the track.
``There's still a chance for us, but it's a slim, slim chance, especially because we're trying to overtake two people instead of one,'' Jarrett said. ``They'd both have to have trouble at Atlanta, and we'd have to have a perfect race. We needed a perfect race today, but we didn't get it.''
As the race ran its course Sunday, no one on Labonte's team had time to pull the stunt with the hypodermic needle.
But on lap 261, crew chief Gary DeHart asked his driver how he was doing.
``I'm OK,'' Labonte said.
``We've got that big needle if you want to drop by here,'' Hendrick chimed in from the pits.
``No, I'm OK,'' Labonte replied quickly. ``I'm OK.''
``It took the edge off,'' Hendrick said afterwards. ``But we didn't stick anybody with it.''
Except, perhaps, Labonte's pursuers.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB