THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 4, 1996 TAG: 9603040116
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RICHMOND LENGTH: Medium: 86 lines
Jeff Gordon claimed his first victory of the 1996 Winston Cup season Sunday at Richmond International Raceway in a race that went from masterpiece to mess in the final 50 laps.
After running more than 250 laps without a yellow flag and staging the kind of competitive race on which NASCAR made its reputation, the best drivers in Winston Cup managed to muck things up with five late caution periods.
Gordon took the lead during the first of those five cautions, jumping from fourth to first with quick pit work. He then used the next four yellow flags to preserve his lead.
Dale Jarrett, who led 23 laps, finished second, followed by Jack Roush's three-car contingent - Ted Musgrave, Jeff Burton and Mark Martin.
Bobby Hamilton, who led the most laps (129), was sixth, with Rusty Wallace, pole-sitter Terry Labonte, Ricky Rudd and Bill Elliott completing the top 10. Three other cars finished on the lead lap.
``You guys are awesome!'' Gordon told his crew as he took the checkered flag. ``You did it in the pits, boys. You did it in the pits.''
Afterward, in the press box, Gordon said: ``This will totally turn things around for the morale of the team.''
Gordon had started the season with a 42nd-place finish at Daytona and 40th at Rockingham.
``I think this is going to give us some momentum,'' Gordon said. ``Last year, when we got down, we were able to turn around and come right back, except this time it took two weeks to do it - two very bad weeks.''
Some tracks on the Winston Cup circuit seem to spawn better racing than others, and Richmond is one of them. This was a delightfully entertaining race, especially from lap 85 to lap 350, when there were no yellow flags.
There were 25 lead changes among 11 drivers.
As Gordon's crew chief, Ray Evernham, put it: ``Today was just an awfully good Winston Cup race.''
Consider laps 166 through 350.
When Bill Elliott, who was playing a gas-mileage game, pitted on lap 251, Hamilton took the lead. But Hamilton, who was best during the early part of a run, lost the lead to Rusty Wallace on lap 257.
Wallace was on top for 23 laps, until he was reeled in by Jarrett. Jarrett led 19 laps but was tracked down by Burton, who led from lap 299 until Jarrett repassed him 13 laps later.
No one ran away from the field, and different drivers were strong at different times.
Gordon, for instance, led 60 of the first 200 laps. And he was motoring along in the lead just before halfway when he became mired in traffic.
``Traffic was a real big issue,'' he said. ``It wasn't that I was stuck. I didn't want to use up my tires getting past them. The next thing I know, these guys are blowing past me and I'm back in fifth.''
By lap 260, Gordon was all the way back to eighth.
``I'm sitting there like, `What is going on?' '' Gordon said.
He asked about his lap times. He was told they were the same as they had been earlier.
``I don't know what it is,'' Gordon said on the radio. ``Because I feel as good as I did earlier.''
``Everyone else is better,'' Evernham replied. ``You need to go faster.''
Gordon pitted on lap 314 while running about sixth. His car worked better after about 30 laps on a set of tires, and he had moved up to fourth when the yellow flag flew on lap 350 for Darrell Waltrip's frontstretch crash.
That's when Gordon's pit crew boosted him into the lead. After that, no one could do anything with him. And there were no long stretchs of racing to put him to the test.
Gordon said his car was better on the long runs, but it was plenty good enough on the final series of short runs during the last 50 laps.
``I got a little bit nervous there at the end, having all those short runs on new tires,'' he said. ``I didn't know if I could hold those guys off. But that shows you how things can change and really turn around.''
Evernham was asked for the speed of the race-winning pit stop.
``I don't know,'' he said. ``I dropped my watch.''
``It didn't matter,'' Gordon said. ``It got us out front.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color photo]
Jeff Gordon
RESULTS
THE RICKY RUDD REPORT
[For copies of results see microfilm on page C6 for this date.]
by CNB