THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, September 10, 1994 TAG: 9409100409
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 55 lines
Kenny Wallace made it 2-for-2 in the fall night races on the NASCAR Grand National circuit, pulling away from Mark Martin and Dale Earnhardt to win the Autolite 250 at Richmond International Raceway by about four car lengths.
Wallace also won a night race at Bristol two weeks ago. So, after going winless for 2 1/2 years, Wallace now has two victories in three races.
Wallace's official margin of victory over Martin was .47 seconds. Earnhardt finished about four seconds behind Martin, while Terry Labonte was fourth and Steve Grissom was fifth.
Wallace's victory was similar to his Bristol win, where he took the lead on lap 165 and led the final 86 laps.
On Friday night, he passed Michael Waltrip for the lead on lap 122 of the 250-lap race and was in front the rest of the way.
``This is getting to be a habit and we love it,'' Wallace said. ``That victory at Bristol was special but this one is awful special, too. To outrun Mark, he's such a tough competitor, it made me feel good about myself. I can do it under pressure and I'm pretty happy about it.
``He outran us,'' Martin said.
``I couldn't catch them,'' Earnhardt said.
``When I saw them in the mirror, I knew it would be tough,'' Wallace said. ``As they say, you're going to find out what you're made of. I was really concerned about it, but we held up.''
Wallace averaged 97.487 miles per hour in his fifth career Grand National victory.
There were six yellow flags for 32 laps and the final one, on lap 214, was the most significant.
When Jim Bown blew an engine and spun in turn three, the two innocent victims he collected were Hermie Sadler and Ricky Craven, who have been in the thick of the Grand National championship battle with David Green.
Although their crippled cars continued running, both Sadler and Craven plummeted in the standings. Craven finished 24th in the 39-car field. Sadler was 29th.
Green, meanwhile, failed to set the track on fire Friday night, but recorded another solid finish, crossing the finish line in eighth place, a lap down.
Green, who came into the race with a 91-point lead over Craven, now has a 123-point lead over Chad Little, who moved into second on the strength of his 14th-place finish. Craven is third, nine points behind Little. Sadler, dropped to fifth, 211 points behind Green.
Wallace moved into fourth in the championship battle, 210 points behind Green, but he isn't holding out much hope for a title this year.
``Sometimes those championships aren't meant to be,'' he said. ``But I've won a lot of races and been competitive and that's all we can ask for.'' by CNB