ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1997, Roanoke Times
DATE: Monday, April 7, 1997 TAG: 9704070151
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ROANOKE, TEXAS
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER THE ROANOKE TIMES
Jeff Burton comes from a lap down to win the Interstate Batteries 500.
It was not how teamwork usually works in NASCAR racing, but Mark Martin's blown engine put teammate Jeff Burton in position to become a first-time Winston Cup winner in the first race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Burton lost a lap early in the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 because of a bad pit stop, but when Martin's engine let go in a puff of bluish smoke on lap 143, causing a yellow flag, Burton took advantage.
Along with two other drivers, he muscled past leader Terry Labonte on the track that's too tough to pass and put himself back on the lead lap.
Burton then gradually moved up and took the lead on lap 277 when Todd Bodine lost control in front of him and led the final 58 laps to win by 4.067 seconds over Dale Jarrett.
Bobby Labonte finished third, followed by his brother, Terry, Ricky Rudd, Dale Earnhardt, Ward Burton and Sterling Marlin, the final driver on the lead lap. Michael Waltrip finished ninth, one lap down. Everyone else was at least two laps down.
``It's a bit overwhelming right now, to be honest with you,'' said the 29-year-old native of South Boston, Va. ``We worked really hard to get this win. This isn't the end of anything. This is the beginning of a lot.''
More than 20 percent of the race was run under the yellow flag as crashes big and small plagued the event. But no one was seriously hurt in any of the incidents, although a lot of cars were destroyed or seriously damaged.
``You sure didn't want to get out of the groove,'' Burton said. ``As long as you didn't get too high getting into a corner, or in the middle of the corner, or coming off the corner, you were fine.
``The race track is difficult, no question about it,'' he said. ``Certainly, if you were going to start over, you'd do some things different. But this is the race track we've got. And short of tearing the walls out and moving the grandstands back, I don't know how to make it any better.''
Burton was no surprise as a first-time winner. He's the third driver on the powerhouse Roush Racing team with a crafty veteran, Buddy Parrott, as his crew chief. And he's been a regular contender this season.
Even so, as the laps wound down, Burton was as calm as anyone, and certainly a lot calmer than his wife, Kim, who cried as she sat atop the team's tool cart in the pits.
With only about five laps to go, Burton's spotter started telling him not to worry about the smoke pouring from a motorhome that erupted in flames toward the third turn in the infield.
``That's not my motorhome, is it?'' Burton asked.
Parrott laughed. And another team member said, ``I'll buy you a new one.''
He also told Parrott not to give him lap times at the end because he'd push too hard. ``I know I'd race that stopwatch at the end if I didn't watch it,'' Burton said.
Burton, the 1994 NASCAR Winston Cup rookie of the year, captured his first win in his 96th career start.
``I had several close calls,'' Burton said. ``Johnny Benson spun right in front of me. But fortunately nobody got into me and I didn't get into anyone else.''
Todd Bodine said he thought Burton probably tapped him coming off the second turn on lap 277. Bodine crashed as Burton made the race-winning pass, but ``I don't think I touched him,'' Burton said. ``If I touched him, it was so easy, I didn't know it. If I touched him, it was solely my fault.''
Burton said he was not worried when the engines broke in the cars of both of his teammates. Along with Martin, Ted Musgrave dropped out with engine failure.
``If you're going to have a motor blow, it's going to blow,'' he said. ``I've never had an experience of trying to save an engine. But we've probably had only one or two engine failures since driving for Jack [Roush]. I didn't put a lot of thought into it.''
Said Roush, ``It scared me to death. It absolutely scared me to death. Our engines are as nearly as identical as a cookie cutter can make them.''
Burton fell out of the lead briefly on lap 278 when he pitted to top off his fuel tank. But the other leaders pitted the next time they came around, so Burton re-inherited the lead without ever actually losing it on the scorecards.
``The strategy to get the lead for good goes on Buddy Parrott's shoulders,'' Burton said. ``He called me in a lap or two earlier than several other cars. As soon as we thought we were in the window [to finish the race without refueling [again], we pitted.
``And then several others pitted after we did, and that gave me three or four cars that I didn't have to pass on the restart. That made a huge difference. I was determined to get as far away from those people as I could [after the restart] and let them come get me.
``I was surprised at how far away I got.''
On the stopwatch, Burton pulled ahead by a margin that ranged from three to four seconds, and Jarrett could never make up the gap.
LENGTH: Medium: 96 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS. The field gets sideways heading intoby CNBthe first turn Sunday during the Interstate Batteries 500 at Texas
Motor Speedway. color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING